[ad_1]
Teenage political junkies at a leadership conference doesn’t seem like the most riveting subject matter for a documentary. As a product of teenage leadership conferences, I assumed that at best, maybe, it could be fodder for a black comedy. But the new documentary “ Boys State ” convinced me otherwise.
Perhaps it’s the strange and heightened political times we’re living in or just pure luck on the part of directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine in finding a riveting case study to film. But either way, they scored a home run in taking the audience to a week-long program in Austin, Texas, where 1,100 high school boys attempt to build a mock government.
The prestigious program, Boys State, is sponsored by the American Legion and has been running across the country since 1935. It’s where aspiring wonks go to revel in policy and the minutiae of governance and elections. Alumni include Bill Clinton, Neil Armstrong, Bruce Springsteen, Rush Limbaugh, Jon Bon Jovi, Roger Ebert, Roger Ailes, James Gandolfini and Dick Cheney, just to name a few. There’s also a program for girls.
The filmmakers chose to film this particular session in Texas in 2018 after the previous year’s class made the news for voting to secede from the U.S. That doesn’t happen again. In fact the boys in this class seem almost embarrassed about the stunt, which is what they chalk it up to. As one explains, when you get that many 17-year-old boys together, sometimes jokes just get out of hand.
[ad_2]
Source link