The Lonely Castle in the Mirror: finally a film that addresses the experience of school bullying

The lonely castle in the mirror, what is it about?

Young schoolgirl eaten by the anxiety, loneliness and sadness caused by harassmentKokoro no longer goes to school.

She spends a lot of time alone at home. While she seems locked in her own world, adventure arrives at her door when the mirror in her room begins to glow. Intrigued, the young girl touches the mirror and suddenly finds herself projected into an immense castle worthy of a fairy tale. To her surprise, there are six other young teenagers. Together, they will try to answer the riddle presented to them by the strange Queen of Wolves, which will allow them to make a wish come true. But, beyond this objective, the seven children he will gradually understand what connects them and learn to regain trust.

Listen to the victims instead of showing the shocking attacks

There are certain films in which we want to envelop ourselves, escape. The lonely castle in the mirror is part of. Despite the appearance of a fantastic and magical tale, this Japanese film is the adaptation of a best-seller (it sold more than…a million copies in Japan) surprises the accuracy of the representation of a difficult, taboo and too little represented social topic in fiction: school bullying.

The film is a bit like the castle it shows: it’s a safe place. Like Kokoro who takes many hours, over a whole year, to get to the other side of the mirror, The lonely castle in the mirror it doesn’t rely on incredible scenery flowing at full speed but it takes the time necessary to do so evoke the trauma without haste. We are far from these films in which they fall traumatic porn showing the harassment with long, raw scenes, as if it was necessary to shock to make people understand the suffering. The profound dimension ethics of the film makes it even more so remarkable the few moments where we see what the attackers are capable of. Director Keiichi Hara mostly shows Off-screen violence at school. He is less interested in specific attacks than in the way victims experience this violence. In this, the director shows that the latter takes place not only during the game, but profoundly reconfigures the relationship with the world of these children.

The result is a touching film that is hard not to connect with because it accurately shows what it means to be an excluded child, a child consumed by anxiety, a child who has had all faith in himself and others taken away so soon. What interests Keiichi Hara is not so much the magical potential of the castle but the space in which these victims, constantly isolated, marginalized and deprived of voice, finally have the right to exchange, they understand that they are very far from being alone.

Bringing together seven characters instead of just focusing on one, the film shows a systemic phenomenonwhich is necessary look in the face instead of believing it “it only happens to others”, to marginal and strange teenagers. In fact, in 2021, 499 Japanese children committed suicide due to school bullying. This film based on collectiveON the speechwhich shows their discomfort, but above all theirs courage it was the best way to pay homage to him.

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