In the new documentary “Boys State,” Texas teenagers create a mock government in an annual civics exercise. It is campaign politics in miniature, complete with mud-slinging, pandering and playing to the cheap seats.
In the new documentary “Boys State,” Texas teenagers create a mock government in an annual civics exercise organized by the American Legion. It is campaign politics in miniature, complete with mud-slinging, pandering and playing to the cheap seats.
Watching so many boys in matching white shirts whooping at each other veers at times into the territory of William Golding’s 1954 cautionary novel “Lord of the Flies.” But then fly-on-the-wall observations and character studies recall campaign documentaries like “The War Room,” a behind-the-scenes look at Bill Clinton’s first bid for the White House.
Boys State gatherings occur every year in states across the country. The film captures the event in Texas in June 2018, when more than 1,100 rising high-school seniors sponsored by local American Legion posts assembled in Austin for six days. They split into two parties—Nationalists and Federalists—and campaigned for leadership positions including the top slot of governor.
San Francisco directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine said they knew there were sensitivities around shooting young people but they kept rolling. “We don’t pull back in the film--the conduct of the characters we followed, their actions, the reflections on their choices they make, they are very real and painful and some have come at a cost,” said Mr. Moss.
The documentary, premiering Friday on Apple TV+, was shot in 2018 amid #metoo revelations and conversations around toxic masculinity. Ms. McBaine said she was preparing herself for an unflattering experience of modern boyhood but found something else. “I saw all kinds of empathy and listening and compromise,” she said. “And crying—I didn’t expect it to be quite as emotional an experience as it ended up being.
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