It’s an incredibly powerful piece of storytelling, and I think that every adult should watch it. But, showing it in schools, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer has welcomed, would be akin to using Schindler’s List to teach Year 7s about antisemitism, or Requiem for a Dream to warn them about drugs – powerful, yes, but not created with the developmental, emotional, or psychological needs of young people in mind. Power and public influence alone don’t make something suitable for schools.
While the protagonist, Jamie, commits an act that rightly carries serious consequences, what troubles me about it being shown in schools is the absence of any real sense of hope. There’s no path to redemption, no space for reflection or reparation. The message, intentionally or not, is that once you’re broken, that’s it. And for young people, particularly those who are already struggling, that narrative can be more damaging than illuminating.
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