Boys State--Under the opening titles, we learn that alumni of the American Legion's longtime, nationwide youth civic program are as diverse as Rush Limbaugh, Samuel Alito, Bill Clinton and Cory Booker. Watching this documentary by Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine, it's hard not to wonder if we're seeing a future big deal, or more than one, in this crop.
The movie's focus is on the 2018 program in Austin, Texas, where a thousand or so high school juniors, all boys, assembled to create their own political parties, develop platforms, nominate candidates and hold an election (there's a Girls State, too; which would also make a terrific movie). Seeing these guys in their matching shirts, marching through the streets of Austin waving standards, it's almost impossible not to think of a Fascist youth group. Yet the movie gradually reveals a more complex reality.
Certainly they're a rowdy, wound-up bunch, and at first they seem highly reactionary, bellowing anti-abortion and (especially) pro-gun sentiments to howling approval. "Our masculinity will not be infringed!" declares one kid. Another suggests a bill proposing that all Prius drivers be relocated to Oklahoma. (In 2016 the Texas Boys State Senate voted to secede from the Union.)
But as the movie brings the individual kids into closer focus, we see startlingly open-minded, honest, even vulnerable attitudes come out. We also see cynical political angling, and guilt over it: "Sometimes you can't win on what you believe in your heart," bemoans Robert MacDougall, who's privately pro-life but can't admit it.
MacDougall, who looks like the rotten rich kid who insults Molly Ringwald in a John Hughes movie but proves more thoughtful than we expect, is one of several of the boys who make a strong impression. Others include Ben Feinstein, a Ronald Reagan-adoring double-amputee, and Rene Otero, a flamboyant African-American kid who becomes party chairman. Probably no one comes across as strongly, however, as Steven Garza, a sober working-class kid from Houston; the son of Mexican immigrants.
He seems an unlikely candidate for prominence at Boys State, not only because of his progressive views but because of his undramatic, soft-spoken personality. Yet his serious-minded and principled approach wins the respect of the boys, and ultimately his party's nomination.
And that's how this movie works; one minute delivering depression or even terror at the prospect of this generation taking over America, the next minute offering inspiration and hope. Just like this country.
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