Nora (Maya Vanderbeque) is nervous about starting school as she hugs her father (Karim Leklou) goodbye in the schoolyard.  Things do not go well for the young girl when she sees her older brother, Abel (Günter Duret), getting bullied during recess.  Despite her pleas, she cannot get an adult to step in and rectify the situation and as the bullying continues for days, into weeks, it begins to take a serious toll on both Nora and Abel. 

Laura Wandel writes and directs Playground; a 72-minute thesis on the long and harmful reach that unfettered bullying can have on the young demographic.  Released by Film Movement and licensed to Mubi in the United States after an attention-grabbing festival run, Playground is a no-holds-barred look at when “kids being kids” crosses the dangerous line into more nefarious behavior which often leaves emotional scars, if not also physical, on the victims.  It is not an uncommon subject for films with a young, school-age cast to have plots broaching the subject of bullying, but often these characters end up painted in a redemptive arc or shown to be the butt of the joke.  This is a much more realistic depiction of the epidemic plaguing schoolyards across the globe, and while its cast may be young, the target demographic for Playground is firmly set to an older audience, one who has a duty to protect the youth of our communities. 

Wandel’s script is quick to lay out the issues at hand.  She brings to light the cyclical nature of violence and how, when left to its own devices, it will continue to grow and fester, turning a fertile environment to rot.  This is not a new idea – one only needs to look at William Golding’s 1954 novel Lord of the Flies – but while Playground does include a number of adults in its cast, Wandel makes the case that ineffective or inattentive adult supervision would lead to the same downward trajectory as if the children were left stranded without any guidance.  She does not infantize her characters, though, rather she lets them act with incredible maturity and imbues them with the wisdom of when they need to ask for help.  In Abel’s case, she also writes him with the stubbornness of youth and the desire to fit in with the crowd no matter the cost or else risk being labeled as different. 

While the film is quick to lay blame, it does not offer many solutions.  It is a pretty bleak tone to assume, especially given the subject matter, that bullying is an inescapable vice and we are powerless to stop it.  Perhaps it is to serve as a wake-up call to any of the passive adults in the audience that this behavior is not okay, but as it is presented, Playground seems more akin to an addressless shout into the void.  Do something!  Do anything!  There is no true development on the “what now” part of Wandel’s study which leaves Playground feeling rather hollow on top of already being harrowing. 

Where the film excels is in its young cast.  Wandel keeps her camera low, so we experience everything through Nora’s eye level.  It is one of the oldest tricks in the book and it is employed perfectly and consistently here so that we are instantly aware of how Nora is feeling and we, likewise, are unable to escape her strife.  This is big.  This is important.  This is all-consuming.  Vanderbeque is incredibly emotive and with her, we feel the same terror of the first day of school and all the confusion and anger from witnessing Abel get beaten up by the schoolyard bullies.  We also get to experience the joys and triumphs as she walks the balance beam in gym class, and then again with her friends as she is giggling and playing games during recess.  The almost constant overcast weather and scenes of bullying, or at least the sounds of it, are always present in the background of the frame and it never allows us to fully enjoy those moments in the same way that Nora is always preoccupied with Abel’s predicament. 

Playground perseveres, beyond its flaws, into a very important work of cinema that will hopefully help shine a light on the dangers of abuse.  Negligence is unacceptable, and while Wandel shies from offering up solutions – and to be fair, it is a problem that one single person would be unable to solve – it is hopeful that the film can start a conversation and raise awareness so that change may be ushered in by those who can create a meaningful difference.  In that way, the film’s very downbeat ending works perfectly because outside of the screen, we as a community have a lot of work that needs to be done.  Bullying and violence toward youth are, unfortunately, very present in our lives, and we cannot allow it to continue this cycle by letting it run unchecked.