Boys State

Personally, I attended Nevada Boys State in the summer prior to my senior year old of high school in 2013. So this documentary was quite exhilarating as a vehicle for helping me revisit and reevaluate my time during that eventful week; what I learned about government, leadership and male friendship. I'm grateful for my time there. I really would like to hear about the reaction of other Boys State alumni to the film.

I was amazed by how compelling the documentary ended up being, it was filmed very professionally while still being fly on the wall, it wasn't scripted, so the fact that they chose to focus on the boys who ended up going surprisingly far and crossed paths at times made for a compelling narrative that came out of serendipity and manages effectively to make you emotionally invested in a mock government election.

I will admit I thought the parts of the film where we hear about the boys' own subjective opinions and perceptions of real political figures and institutions to be quite unnecessary and cringeworthy but they were easy to skip over and didn't drag it too much. I also wish we could have heard more from the real adult organizers of Boys State to get a sense of what their vision for the program even is and how they view the occasional chicanery that takes place there.

I really wish we had a similar documentary for Girls State, as it would be interesting to see how teen girls process modern politics in contrast to their male counterparts, maybe in a more swing state like Georgia or Arizona. Regardless I really enjoyed my experience for the film and I'm glad for its success.

Halfway in, I had to check to make sure this was a documentary. I don't know how the filmmakers lucked into one of their subjects but kudos and I'm glad I got to see the results.

This doc definitely has a slant to it but I think it's major theme of "change through listening" is universal.

Well done.

Depressing and disturbing with occasional glimmers of hope.

Shows how quickly current political culture pervades the mindset and morals of 16-17 year old boys.

Film leans toward a reality tv vibe.

Note: majority of "campaign speeches" focus on guns and pro-life statements.

This is a very good expose of the indoctrination of future fascists in this country and the incubation of toxic masculinity. The only bright spots in this otherwise bleak peak at our future are Steven Garza and Rene Otero. They are two young men of integrity.

Out of fairness to the documentarian I think this deserves an 8, because it is a very well-made documentary but personally, I found it impossible to watch. Some of these boys (and I know this is Texas, a very macho/conservative leaning state) make me think "this is what's wrong with today's GOP". The boys who showed so much machismo seemed to fare much better than the low key, kinder & simply, from my perspective, nicer boys. I'm sure you can tell by now that I am a liberal minded individual (and am therefore glad that there are no comments available on this review) & I cannot say that it's a not a well-made documentary but you had better have a stomach for macho, 17-year-old a-holes if you think you're going to enjoy this. Personally, I find it unbelievable that Cory Booker & President Clinton succeeded in this 'competition', but maybe it's not just the macho who survive? I can't watch the end of it so I don't know.