Boys State

BOYS STATE (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Director: Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss. Cast: Ben Feinstein, Steven Garza, Robert MacDougall 

Something between a documentary and a reality TV show turns out to be an fascinating account into a week-long annual program in which a thousand Texas high school boys seniors gather for an elaborate mock exercise: building their own state government.

What comes out is an astonishing portrait of American today: this is a microcosm of political division, masculinity, racism. It’s terrifying, infuriating, gobsmacking, exciting and even moving at times..

What this amazing documentary does (and I call it documentary because to call it “reality TV would diminish it, and this piece of work should really never be undermined!) is actually appealing to both the believer and the cynical in equal measure. I started watching this almost with two fingers in my month ready to vomit and shaking my head in disbelief more often that I thought it would be possible, and yet, by the end I somehow managed to come out of depression and I was actually left with a glimmer of hope for the future.I hope you’ll give this a go: it is an exciting, enlightening, revealing and moving piece of work. It might not be the best documentary of the year, but it’ll certainly be one of those who’ll stay with me for longer.

Very highly recommended.On Apple +