The film follows select boys attending the event and how they succumb to the pressures of a system where you must win over the hearts and minds of polarized, partizan inductees. While it feels like the film wants to inspire a certain amount of hope by focusing on at least one candidate who lives close to the kinds of principles we (as a nation) say we want in our political system, the vast majority of the boys quickly fall into the games, cheating, and deceit which is pretty much required to be successful in the American democratic experiment.
Perhaps the film isn't trying to give us hope, but show us that despite the way we are inspired by one honorable boy in particular, Boy State shows us he can't win with his values. The justifications for the back stabbing are just too great. Also the film's focus on masculinity and the ways that subverts a fair system is disheartening. There are moments that are excruciating to watch, as we are dreading what it means to see these young men grow up and become the next political class.
In many ways Boys State is an indictment of American democracy as a whole. The way the structure is set up almost prevents us reaching the goals we state we have for our political process. Perhaps we know that this is a lie we tell ourselves, or perhaps we just can't see past our own noses. I wish the film had dealt more with underlying themes of racism and homophobia which are just under the surface but never quite exposed. But the film's central conceit is just how doomed this system it to the exploitation of the powerful.
Perhaps the most haunting moments are when it shows us pictures of many of the men who currently hold power in Washington and in right wing media, pictures from their youth in Boys States around the country. Are we training our future politicians, like we did the ones in the past, to cheat, lie, and steal?
Boy State
Directors: Jesse Moss, Amanda McBaine
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