It was also one of the stark messages conveyed by a new anti-bullying film made by a group of Bute school pupils - and premiered this week in front of a specially invited audience at the Rothesay school campus.

The film, Why Me?, is the work of the Spirit Aid charity, whose founder, actor and film director David Hayman, took time out from his hectic schedule to attend the premiere in Rothesay, along with Spirit Aid's Pat Corrigan and 'Fraz', the Young Scot of the Year for 2006.

David, who started his acting career at the Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow, leapt to fame when he played a criminal turned sculptor in the memorable film Sense of Freedom, and he is currently starring as Chief Superintendent Michael Walker in the TV series Trial and Retribution.

But Why Me? was conceived, written, rehearsed and shot by a rather younger group of actors - namely some 17 pupils from P7 and S1 at the Rothesay campus - during the first week of the spring school hoildays.

Spirit Aid became involved with the school through the work of their ambassador, P7 pupil and Young Scot of the Year award winner Aimee Gilmour, who received a loud cheer when she was mentioned in the introduction.

As David told The Buteman: "The youngsters do everything. We show them how people make films, from conception to completion, but we don't interfere - they do the acting, the production and everything else.

"Although Bute is an affluent area compared to the inner cities where we normally work, bullying is just as much of a problem here. Spirit Aid have made about 35 films involving more than 300 youngsters and this is the equal of any of them."

David went on to tell the audience of pupils, parents and teachers: "You should be extremely proud of what you've done - this is a really, really powerful film."

Turning to the subject of the film, and speaking with obvious emotion, he said: "Victims of bullying are really precious - but bullies are really in need of help, and should talk to someone, because they have problems.

"Spirit Aid is all about children talking to children and is involved in many countries including South Africa where, in one township with a population of 12,000, there are two thousand Aids orphans. It's heartbreaking."

But what about the film? Well, we were both impressed and moved by a terrific production which had professionalism written all over it from start to finish.

The opening features youngsters talking about bullying one to one with the camera, and also walking about the streets of Rothesay. Then we meet the victim, played frighteningly convincingly by Christy Slaven, who is more and more threatened by his tormentors.

His friend and sister, played by respectively by Megan Morrison and Aimee Gilmour, try to find out what is wrong with him, and when he runs away from school they follow him through the High Kirk graveyard in a chilling sequence of shots accompanied by a scary and moody drum soundtrack.

They do not find him; instead the audience sees the shadowy figure of the principal bully, Kate Stratton, bash her victim on the head with a chunk of wood.

Then the screen goes dark and ambulance sirens echo, with director Cameron Gibb leaving his audience to wonder whether the victim is alive, dead or seriously injured.

Most film reviews don't mention the end of the story, in order to maintain the suspense, but in this case, the message is so strong and important that it needs to be told - and after the end, individual pupils again face the camera and tell why bullying is unacceptable.

Five minutes of out-takes provided some light relief and showed that the pupils had a lot of fun while learning their craft.

Among the audience we caught up with Argyll and Bute Council's spokesperson on education and lifelong learning, Cllr Isobel Strong, who said: "I was very impressed by the work of the children and Spirit Aid.

"I think they chose a difficult topic and portrayed it very well. I know that bullying can have a life long effect on people and anything which encourages people who are being bullied to report it so that schools can take action, is to be welcomed.

"I will be making sure the film is widely distributed throughout Argyll and Bute and not just in schools. It deserves a wider audience and I will try and see that it gets as far afield as possible."

Meanwhile the primary's head teacher, Kirsteen MacDonald, said: "Next year we want to bring David back to speak to the entire campus, and I am really looking forward to continuing to work with Spirit Aid."

Her Academy colleague, head teacher Ken Moncrieff, added: "I have seen many films about bullying but this one has really struck a chord with me which I will have for the rest of my life.

"Without Spirit Aid this would not have happened and it has fulsome praise from David Hayman – a man of great stature."

Spirit Aid's Pat Corrigan, who was the main adviser during the film's production, summed up its message by saying: "Bullying today is very relevant and hopefully this film will spread the word.

"Working with 17 'weans' was fantastic - they had less than four hours a day and a minimal budget to do what David is doing in his current film, which is taking 12 weeks and a budget of £1 million to complete."

The 17 stars of the day, plus their 'teacher' Mrs Whitelaw, have kept their feet firmly on the ground. As two member of the team, Tia and Molly, put it: "Hi from Hollywood - we like the word star but we also like cheese."

And Aimee's feet are still firmly on the ground too - although a big grin covered her face as she told us: "I enjoyed it."