But her buoyant spirit and supportive family pushed her past the pain and made her a favorite with those around her. Born in 1989 with a rare genetic disorder, Velasquez experienced bullying and isolation as a young girl who didn’t look like her classmates as she was unable to gain weight and had issues with her sight. Sara Hirsh Bordo’s directorial debut explores the moving story of Lizzie Velasquez. But “ A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story” threatens to melt even the grinchiest of hearts in its audience, sending us to looking for alternatives to avoid overusing the word “inspiring.” Criticizing a capably made documentary whose primary goal is to educate its audience about the triumph of a woman who won’t be a victim of cyberbullying could put you on the level with a cruel, faceless YouTube commenter. The characters and the story compel our attention, but the film runs out of steam before the end.Film critics are often seen as a cynical bunch, eager to tear into anything too sweet or sincere and mock it in quippy headlines and snarky pull quotes. One wonders if A Brave Heart might have been more effective as a short film than as a feature.

Late in the film, Lizzie visits a doctor to learn more about her health problems, but this issue probably should have been explored more thoroughly. Even though it runs just 78 minutes, it still seems drawn-out. The one problem with the film is that once it has established the issues and the outline of Lizzie’s story, it keeps hitting the same theme. Her family members come across not as saints but as decent people who never wavered in their support of their daughter. Her father is a teacher who worked in the same elementary school that Lizzie attended, and the film demonstrates what a difference it can be for a bullied child to have a nurturing home environment. Here the film pays tribute to Lizzie’s parents. Director Sara Hirsh Bordosets out not just to honor Velasquez but to underscore some of the horrors of the Internet, which allows and encourages a new kind of hate speech.īeyond this, the film examines the forces that allowed Velasquez to surmount her own personal difficulties and the cruelty in the larger culture. In 2013 she addressed a TED conference in Texas and went on to become an internationally recognized anti-bullying spokesperson. The remarkable thing is that Lizzie never allowed the hostility to defeat her.

A brave heart lizzie velasquez