There’s much to love about “Boys State,” a Grand Jury Prize winner at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’ doc gives an all-access look into an American Legion-sponsored program that sees a thousand Texas high school seniors gathering for a week-long program to build their own state government. Launched in 1935, the “experiment” is designed for teens to learn about democracy and civil discourse.
The doc is so immersive that it’s hard not to buy into all the drama. What happens on the campaign trail — and the results on election night — feel genuinely important. The stakes for this little experiment gradually become higher and higher, and it’s impossible not to draw parallels between the exercise and the (broken) political system it’s intended to mimic.
The memorable characters at the heart of “Boys State” make it all the more compelling. Ben, who worships at the altar of Ronald Reagan and watches famous political speeches as a hobby, believes that as an amputee he’s had to work harder “but the more we blame” race, gender, and disability instead of “acknowledging personal failures,” the more it’s a problem. Bernie Sanders inspired Steven, who will be the first in his family to graduate from high school, to get into politics. He quickly realizes that he’s a progressive person “in a room of mostly conservative people.” “I’ve never seen so many white people ever,” says Rene, who takes guidance from his grandmother. She’s always emphasized that “you had to have faith, hope, and a pissed off attitude.”
I was both inspired and depressed by “Boys State,” a microcosm of Washington politics that sees one candidate admitting that his platform directly contradicts his personal beliefs — a concession he’s willing to make to get votes. “A message of unity, as good as it sounds, is not winning anyone any elections,” Ben observes at one point. Rene describes a peer as a “fantastic politician” before adding that he “doesn’t think a fantastic politician is a compliment.” Still, Steven insists that a public servant’s objective is to “serve others, and not yourself,” and after watching this doc I’m truly hopeful that he’ll run for office one day.
A Girls State also exists, and I’d love to see McBaine and Moss pull back the curtain on that experiment as well.
“Boys State” is now available to stream on Apple TV+
