DVD Review: Mentor

Several films in recent years have dealt with the issue of bullying in U.S. schools, perhaps the most well-known being 2011’s Bully. Mentor is different in that it focuses specifically on two families who suffered the loss of teenagers due to bullying in Mentor, Ohio, a town that was rated one of the best places to live.

The film eases into its subject, letting friends and family of the two students give us a background on who they were before delving into the bullying. Sladjana Vidovic and Eric Mohat, two students at Mentor High School, both took their own lives after being bullied. Eric’s parents weren’t aware of the extent of the bullying until after Eric’s death (Jan Mohat, Eric’s mother, says she learned at her son’s funeral that he had been bullied on a daily basis), but Sladjana’s family was not only aware of what was happening, but had turned to those at the school multiple times in an effort to have it stopped.

Suzana Vidovic, Sladjana’s sister, says they were teased about their clothes and their ethnicity. Dragan, Sladjana’s father, says Sladjana was accused of being a lesbian. She was tormented in the cafeteria to the point where she began eating her lunch in the stall of the bathroom, and was pushed down a flight of stairs by a football player (who was then not suspended for even one game). She was not only bullied at school, but received threatening phone messages at home. Her mother even went to the principal to see about having her transferred. The school administration’s position was that there was no bullying at the school. Dorothy Espelage, an expert on bullying, reports that the school did not follow its own stated polices on bullying.

The film shows us evidence that in Sladjana’s case the school knew something was terribly wrong and took no steps to rectify the situation. Especially hard-hitting are the shots of the nurse’s log with Sladjana signing in so often (4/29/08, 5/2/08, 5/7/08, 5/12/08, 5/13/08, 5/19/08, and so on). How could they pretend not to see there was trouble? Even more troubling is that after Sladjana’s death, the school records regarding the instances of bullying were destroyed.

Both families filed a lawsuit against the school, and this documentary covers some of that territory as well, with interviews with Ken Myers, the attorney representing both families. Much of what this film reveals is infuriating. For example, the bullying continued at Sladjana’s funeral. The bullies attended the service, laughed in front of her family, and then posted crude comments online afterwards. That is shocking, that there was no remorse, no guilt, no sense of responsibility. And I can’t help but want horrible things to happen to those kids, can’t help but hope that they suffer terrible tragedies for the rest of their lives.

Perhaps most disgusting of all is the community’s response, which is to maintain that there is no trouble, or to ignore it. Jan and Bill Mohat even lost friends over their lawsuit. And you have to wonder, what exactly will it take to enact some serious change in this community? Let’s hope this film will get things moving in that direction.

Mentor was directed by Alix Lambert, and was released on DVD on December 16, 2014 through Garden Thieves Pictures. The DVD contains no special features.