The Youth Governor
★ ★★★
This documentary hit close to home. My wife is the state director for the YMCA Oklahoma Youth and Government program, so I have experience with this program as a volunteer and an employee of the Y. Naturally, we had to throw a watch party for our loyal volunteers when this movie dropped on streaming services. As an insider, it's hard not to pine over what could have been covered through this film. There are a lot of facets to the program and the Youth Governor is just a small part of that, but I completely see why the filmmakers decided to focus on this particular race.
A thing that has always fascinated me about the program is how much it reflects our current society and this documentary captures that perfectly. Even though these youth are participating in mock elections and trials, they experience similar trials and tribulations that exist in our current politics. The scandals and surprises that occur in our elections exist here as well. Unexpected underdogs are elevated to a high level but can just as quickly be brought down.
The Youth Governor is a really well-made movie and allows us to get to know these candidates in a short amount of time. Suspense resides in the end result, but what's fun about this movie (and the program) is that you see how these teenagers' lives will change for the better after this program, no matter if they win or not. Plus, I need to know more about Operation Golden Bear. There was something fishy about how all of that went down.
