I loved and hated this movie at the same time. Lets start with what I loved about it: the music with its excellent choice of jazz, the orange palette with which the movie was filmed, the outstanding synergy between Miles Teller and J. K. Simmons in the leading roles, and the title of the movie making me reflect on the fact that we all need some whipping in order to achieve better results but the lash could leave our skin scarred forever if we don’t use proper force.
What didn’t I like? The implicit bullying justification at the very end of the movie. As a Human Resources Specialist, I agree that these last two decades we have softened up in regards to how we treat people to the point of accepting mediocrity as acceptable performance, as long as the person behaves in an agreeable manner and readily goes with the flow without expressing an opinion of its own. The minute you raise the bar a bit, the pressure begins from all fronts until the standard is lowered again and mediocrity wins!
For years I have had this quote in Spanish that says “al cargar a quien no da, se recarga a quien si da (we tend to relieve from responsibility the ones who are not delivering and to overload with more responsibility, the ones who already are).” By this, I don’t mean the fact that we all have strengths and weaknesses and we should complement each other. I mean those who go throughout life taking shortcuts and lazily depending on others for things they should be doing themselves.
Nothing justifies abuse as a tool to inspire others to become their better version of themselves. There are better ways to accomplish the same!