Mark Reviews Movies: THE YOUTH GOVERNOR

The Youth Governor, Greenwich Entertainment

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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 25, 2022

Every year, YMCA organizations across the country run a mock government program, in which high-schoolers run political parties and, after a series of meetings and conferences and a program-wide election, vote on legislation, run courts, and have more meetings and conferences. The Youth Governor, brothers Jaron and Matthew Halmy's documentary about the 2019 Youth and Government program in California, focuses mainly on the electoral process of about 4,000 teenagers trying to choose one of their own for the eponymous position. The resulting perspective is broadly optimistic in a way that ignores or dismisses some of the inevitable realities of politics—even among a group of teens.

The movie genuinely wants us to believe that the kids, at least, are all right in a country that, at the time of filming, was deeply divided by the politics of a—to put it generously—most divisive Presidential administration. Beyond that, one candidate for the mock governor position speaks of the "epidemics" of mass shootings and the consequences of climate change, and one feels terrible knowing about another one she'll be experiencing soon.

Look at the hope and confidence and thoughtfulness of these teenagers as they're presented in this documentary. Some of them are nervous and find their bearings by speaking. Another only wants to win, and in the process of campaigning, he discovers the humbling lesson that he still has a lot to learn. A liberal girl somehow ends up in a party dominated by her more conservative peers. She decides it's important to listen to them, if only to gain their support in the series of elections that whittle down 40 candidates to a final three, and when a group of far-right party members start spreading anti-Semitic sentiments against her, the party's young policy wonk makes an effort to get them kicked out of the program.

This is seen as a positive, and it undoubtedly is, even if the mere existence of what the party leader describes as a "neo-Nazi" faction of teens is far more distressing than the movie seems willing to acknowledge. The same goes for the depiction of the mock campaign trail, which sees the position of Youth Governor as the common goal but overlooks exactly how these teenage candidates go about trying to achieve it. At least one of them, after making it into the top six, immediately starts planning whom he should target and how, and for all of the pleasant talk about how much the policy and sense of greater purpose matter, the filmmakers brush off how most of the online chatter is filled with personal attacks on various candidates.

Yes, the kids are probably all right in general, if the handful of subjects focused upon here are any indication. The Youth Governor is so evasive in its perspective and outlook, though, that it leaves us with the lingering feeling that they might be the hopeful exceptions.

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