Parents' Guide to Bama Rush

Ostensibly about the cutthroat sorority rushing process at one college, this documentary actually offers significant insight into the mental health and other challenges many young women face today. We know this when Bama Rush director Rachel Fleit turns the camera repeatedly on herself, to compare her own journey of accepting her alopecia to the process of young sorority wannabes just trying to fit in. The fact that Fleit couldn't gain access to the sororities to film the actual rush activities means she had to put her focus elsewhere. It's almost like she just put her camera in the bedrooms of these young women and got them to open up.

They reveal sexual assaults, friendship troubles, eating disorders, and more. Surely Fleit's gentle demeanor, compassionate questioning, and the way she identifies with the women helped get them to share. Then again, this is a sharing generation, and their social media feeds are both fodder and inspiration for this documentary (and the rush process at U of Alabama itself). Ultimately, this film feels very unsettling. There's a major lack of self-confidence on display, and the idea that there's a cottage industry of rush coaches will come as a surprise to many viewers. One woman nonchalantly describes her fourth experience getting roofied (waking up in the woods), and another tearfully admits she was sexually assaulted in the middle of the making of this movie. All of the young women in the film seem to be placing a whole lot more emphasis on having the right outfit to get into the right sorority than anything else in their lives.