Documentary Double Feature: Boys State and The Speed Cubers

This Friday, I enjoyed yet another unusual double feature, this time focused on documentaries about boys. One gave me hope, one gave me some despair. So par for the course in 2020. 

Boys State: Every year, the American Legion runs a week-long immersive program in each of the 50 states where politically-minded teenagers can participate in an exercise in self-government. There is a separate Girls State, but filmmakers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine chose to make this movie about the 2018 Boys State in Texas, and the result is an intriguing documentary that won a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.

It’s hard to know how to feel about this movie, given that it presents a mass of contradictions, much like our current political system. The film closely follows the boys who have chosen to run for State Party Chair or Governor of the two parties that the boys are divided into at the beginning of the week. It’s Texas, so the crowd skews conservative, but there is a particularly telling moment when a kid delivers a rousing speech about how he is passionately pro-life, but then in a private interview with the filmmakers, admits that he was just pandering to the crowd; he is personally pro-choice, but he recognizes the need to play politics. Which begs the question - why should a bunch of 17-year old boys have such strident opinions on abortion anyway? These are the dolts who grow up to become the men who tell women what they can do with their bodies. And of course, their political stance may be pro-life, but the minute their mistress gets knocked up, it’s pro-choice all the way.

On the flip side, there are the kids who genuinely want to change policy, establish gun reform, and embrace a "you do you as long as you’re not hurting me" ethos. They stick to their principles, rally the crowd, and deliver speeches based in genuine moral conviction. Of course, it's no surprise that the boys of color seem largely charged with doing the work and garnering votes based on actual policy reform and visions of bettering society for all, while the white kids thrive on rabble-rousing and generating faux outrage to muster votes. The challenge with Boys State is the same challenge with current political life - both types of candidates do enjoy some measure of success, so it’s a bit of a crapshoot regarding who gets to come out on top. I had strong views about who was the more empathetic and compelling speaker, but ultimately, there’s a clear distinction between personal passion and political ambition. For some folks, politics trumps policy-making, and it’s quite easy to tell which is which. The trouble is, voters seem to prefer the politics, and that's where things go awry. 

Setting politics aside, however, it’s obvious that this is an immersive and engaging experience and at the end, there is some overwhelming emotion and love that these boys express for each other. They have forged truly close bonds and friendships in just one week and maybe that's the only takeaway that matters. Political opinions come and go, but human connection makes a lasting impression. 

The Speed Cubers: This is a short 40-minute documentary about two very different but remarkably talented boys named Feliks Zemdegs and Max Park. They both share a passion for speed cubing, i.e. the ability to solve a Rubik's cube in an extraordinarily short amount of time. I learned to solve a cube when I was ten, using algorithms I learned from a Google search. I am not an innate solver who can see the patterns and right the cube without having to recite the formulas in my head, so it usually takes me two minutes to solve a standard 3x3 cube. Speed cubers like Max and Feliks, however, are solving these in under ten seconds.

Feliks is from Australia and was the world champion for years. Until Max came along and slowly started beating all of his records. Max is autistic, and we get his backstory about how his mom first introduced him to cubing as a way of improving his fine motor skills. This is a really simple documentary, but at the heart of it is the relationship between these two boys who have developed an unlikely friendship instead of an antagonistic rivalry. Rather than resenting Max, Feliks sends him congratulatory texts every time Max breaks one of his world records. When they meet up in Sydney for the 2019 World Championships, it's clear to see how much love and esteem they share for each other. It’s a very sweet story about how two people can challenge each other to be the best rather than tear each other down for a crazy competition. And of course, you get to see a lot of kids solving Rubik’s cubes in rapid time, sometimes one-handed, sometimes blindfolded, sometimes with their feet. 

I get it, it’s a niche subject, but by telling this story through the lens of two such unique and humble cubers, filmmaker Sue Kim hit the jackpot. The result is a genuinely heartwarming movie that has a pulse-pounding finale as you eagerly wait to see who will be crowned World Champion and if yet another world record is going to be smashed. It's a nerdy thrill, but it's also quite wonderful, and it's a worthy way to spend an hour of your day.