A film about bullying.

Rating: 1/10 (26 February 2015)

I cannot believe that this film has received so many good reviews. I cannot believe that this film was Oscar nominated for "Best Motion Picture of the Year". Here's IMDb's synopsis of the film: "A promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential." This film, however, is about a bully music teacher who insults, assaults, slaps, degrades, and humiliates his students to death. Literally. This film is realistic only in the sense that it depicts the catastrophic effects bullying can have on people's well-being. Everything else in the film would simply not happen. Other reviewers, with music knowledge, have explained why such music institutions and teaching practices and methods are implausible, nowadays. I am a psychologist and I can verify that bullying will not and cannot motivate a person to become greater. Peoples' potentials are most likely to be crushed as a consequence of bullying. Victims of bullying do not easily "overcome" or "harden up" to become better human beings. Moreover, victims of bullying tend to become bullies themselves, later on in life. So, I would claim that this is a film about the making of a bully.
I am a big fan on violent films and I have felt emotionally exhilarated – completely satisfied – after watching films like Oldboy, and Sympathy for Mr & Lady Vengeance. Whiplash left me feeling disgusted, wondering about what kind of people made it, watched it, and enjoyed it.