Movie Review: Boys State

Apparently even potential politicians have their own summer camps where, over the course of a week each summer, participants are gathered in various capitols across the country to discuss politics, hold elections, compete with each other in mock legislatures, and have frequent and very authentic arguments. One such camp, held in Austin, Texas in 2018, is the subject of Boys State, an enthralling documentary from filmmakers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine. Not only is this film a captivating portrayal of the current state and execution of the American political process, but it also adds to that mix, the swirling emotions of 1,100 hormonal boys simultaneously jockeying for power, making it a fascinating coming-of-age saga as well.

The conceit of the film is that the young men at the aforementioned camp are supposed to formulate and then run a successful political campaign. To achieve this, the group is divided into two groups of 550 and subsequently assigned “party” designations. From there, it is up to the participants to decide who will run for what office and upon exactly what platform they will ultimately stand, with the end goal being for one of the participants to be elected the “Governor” of the camp.

Boys State focuses on two boys in particular, who both happen to be running simultaneously gubernatorial campaigns for the previously described opposing parties. The first is Ben, a prototypical conservative with enough confidence in his own abilities that it’s hard to believe he’s ever been denied anything in his entire life. Second, is Steven, the son of Mexican immigrants who holds firm to his beliefs despite the influences constantly bombarding him, who is obviously positioned as the David going against his own personal Goliath in pursuit of his American Dream.

Filmmakers Moss and McBaine are present with their cameras at seemingly every seminal moment during the course of the camp as the two campaigns unfold and, in a few cases, unravel. Boys State won the Grand Jury Prize for documentary at the Sundance Film Festival and it is easy to understand why as the film boasts everything any great drama demands. There is a compelling through line replete with heroes and villains and even a few twists and turn littered throughout to keep the narrative moving along at a crisp pace. Ultimately though, the film works so well simply because its an eerily accurate portrayal of the current political divisiveness in the United States as well as a call to examine the toxic masculinity that can often overwhelm and erode the proper functioning of our system of government.

Although Boys State is the succinct story of several young men starting their paths to adulthood seemingly off on the right foot, it also posits that, thanks to people like its subjects, the country might just be able to do the same.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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