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| Scene from Boys State |
One can make the argument that the AppleTV+ documentary Boys State is the most essential American movie of 2020. With an election on the horizon that has been considered one of the most crucial in this nation's history, it feels like a good time to take a hard look at the values, the way that society comes together and decides what is deemed worthy of leadership, and question what they're ultimately about. At the end of the day, nothing in Boys State matters. It's a mock election where power disappears the minute that they hop on the bus home, leaving their campaigns a distant memory. And yet, there is an intensity and importance to it that is undeniable. It's a microcosm of a bigger picture, of teenagers on the precipice of their own adult lives and running for office.
If children are our future, what can be gathered from Boys State is how much there is to be hopeful and cautious of. While there are leaders, there's also mob mentality, where candidates run solely for the rush of approval they get by compromising better values for cheap sentiment. Again, nothing really matters, and yet what co-directors Amanda McBain and Jesse Moss achieve is something profound. This is democracy in action, birthed before the viewers' eyes in ways that slowly mold into something familiar. If the future has reason to believe in change, they're going to need to try harder than bully tactics.
