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Come From Away: Love is Always Welcome

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Set immediately after the events of September 11th, 2001, Come From Away tells the story of 7 000 people who were stranded in the remote town of Gander, Newfoundland after 300 planes were grounded after the terrorist attacks. Lost and scared, these involuntary visitors found themselves strangers in an unknown land. Thankfully, the people of Newfoundland embraced those who had ‘come from away’, welcoming them into their community and providing food, shelter and compassion as they waded through the tragedy of 9/11 together.

After the success of last year’s stage recording of Hamilton on Disney+, the Tony Award winning Come From Away opts to make use of the same format, this time on Apple TV+. Performed onstage in the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York City, Away wants to make you feel as though you’re sitting in the seats on Broadway taking in the show first hand. Shot (mostly) from a view that encapsulates the entire stage, director Christopher Ashley maintains the distance between performer and audience that gives it an authentic feel. While one does somewha wish that a proper cinematic adaptation had been offered, there’s simply something magical about this live performance with a cast of 12 (!) that makes it essential viewing. (Although, it is also worth noting that a film version was in the works until the pandemic derailed the plans.)

Of course, adding to the effectiveness of the piece is that fact that we have hit the 20th anniversary of 9/11 itself. With the performance taking place in New York, there’s simply something special about this one. Filmed in front of an audience of 9/11 survivors and frontline workers, Away carries even greater weight as it becomes instantly personal for its audience. Every musical number, every joke and every poignant moment lands with emotion from a crowd that connects with the material for their own experiences and memories. They may not be onstage but, to this audience, this is their story too.

But isn’t that part of the power of 9/11? In a lot of ways, it’s all of our story.

Like the writers of Come From Away, I may be from Canada. (Just outside Toronto, to be more specific.) And the play takes place in Newfoundland. Even so, 9/11 remains the event that shook the world and re-telling the story from an outside perspective serves as a reminder of how thing changed that day. This is a story that affected everyone and Come From Away recognizes the impact on us all. 

Filled with real stories and characters, the play has always shown the power that real people had on one another in a time of crisis. (Adding to the realism is the fact that Away shows the actors with their real-life counterparts over the credits.) By focusing on the diverse stories of these people who were thrown together, Away gives power and voice to everyone, regardless of race, language, faith or sexuality. (This becomes particularly visible during the play’s stirring and surprisingly inclusive performance of ‘Make Me a Channel of Your Peace’.) Despite the differences between them, all of these travellers were thrown together at the hands of one of the darkest moments in recent history.

Which makes the impact of their hosts even more staggering.

Though the world was in shock, the people of Gander offered grace and shelter to those who were suffering. Despite being far away from their families, these visitors found a home. The actions of the people from this small corner of Canada are the very definition of divine hospitality: no matter who their visitors were or what their stories were, they were going to be safe there. 

Everyone was going to be welcome at their table.

While Come From Away doesn’t ignore the travesty that 9/11 had on the families of those who were stuck in Gander, it does show how hospitality and love can shine a light of hope on others. While their care for others may not have changed what happened, the power of love is that it helped change the way that these broken people could deal with what happened. Suddenly, fear and suspicion were transformed into peace and protection. Yes, the world was changed. Yes, lives were decimated. But, in the midst of that trauma, unconditional love broke through to bring comfort in the most difficult of circumstances.

Fueled by joy and compassion, Come From Away is energetic, entertaining and an absolute joy to behold. Though the cast only consists of 12 people, they manage to share the stories and experiences of many who suffered during those tumultuous days post-9/11. What’s most powerful about the piece though is the fact that it also serves as a reminder that love is always welcome.

To hear our conversation with director Christopher Ashley and writers Irene Sankoff and David Hein, click here.

To hear our conversation with the cast of Come From Away, click here.

Come From Away is available on Apple TV+ on Friday, September 10th, 2021.

Political Gain (and Games): 1on1 with Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine (BOYS STATE)

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The political world is filled with men and women who both seek power for the sake of serve and help others or, more negatively, out of a need to self-validate by winning. Pending on the candidate’s goals and intentions, they can prove themselves to be agents for positive change or simply succumb to the immaturity of their youth.

But what does it look like when youth are the ones with the political power?

Directed by Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine, the new documentary Boys State takes the viewer behind the scenes at Boys State, a summer leadership program for teenage men, developed by The American Legion. (The film indicates that there is also a Girls State program but the filmmakers opt to only follow the boys.) With over a thousand teenage boys in attendance, the youth are challenged to build a representative government from the ground up. As the young men nominate and elect candidates, they also must decide what means—and requires—to win. Asked how they discovered Boys State, Moss claims that their interest was piqued back in 2017 when the events of the camp garnered national attention.

“We feel lucky to have stumbled upon Boys State as a prism to look at American politics and democracy today,” Moss begins. “We didn’t have the benefit of participating in the program as young people growing up in California. I just didn’t know about it. It wasn’t until we read about the program the Texas Boys State program, having voted to secede from the union becoming something of a scandal [in 2017] in the national news [that it] caught our eye. That was at a time that we, like a lot of Americans, were struggling to understand the irreconcilable political division in our country and how have we gotten to this point? What’s our way forward? I think [we saw] in Boys State and Texas, potentially a prism to look at these questions and look at how susceptible young men are to sort of the rhetoric of the moment and what they may offer us as a hope forward.” 

When the boys first arrive, they are split between two political parties, the Federalists and the Nationalists. However, despite the division, they are given no other political guidelines or priorities to build upon. Left to decide for themselves what they value, it’s fascinating to see how different the political ideologies can be amongst the youth. In developing their film, political diversity became a high priority for McBaine and Moss as they chose their subjects to follow.

“When we did find out about this program, we loved the idea that there’s this space where kids with politics to the right and to the left, [who] are [invited] and forced to come together and talk politics face to face,” McBaine explains. “There are so few of those spaces left, maybe not even the Thanksgiving table anymore in a family. So, we knew going in that it was going to be fraught and we hoped it would be. We knew it would be uncomfortable. It would be really interesting to see what went down if they voted to secede in 2017, what the heck were they going to do in 2018? But there’s 1,100 kids who were invited to attend every year and that’s a lot of people.” 

“We knew the only way we were going to be able to survive this event as something occurs and as a crew trying to cover it, but also emotionally. The kind of films we make really are character driven. We wanted to immerse ourselves with a small group, and we wanted that small group to have a diversity of not only background in life experience, but also different politics. So, we worked very hard over three months, criss-crossing Texas, and filming with lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of boys, until we found the four that we do end up following through the program, all of whom are very different and surprise us. We’re very lucky we found the four that we did.”

Although Boys State seems to consist of a form of hyperreality of the political world, it does offer a window into the machinations of backroom Washington and the games that are often played behind the scenes. However, given the age of the participants, it begs the question of whether or not the young men took their experience seriously. While the sheer number of youth ensured a range in maturity, Moss claims that he was impressed just how important the experience was to many of the boys.

“I think there was both [mature and immature youth]. Actually, what’s interesting is you see both embodied in Robert himself,” he points out. “[Robert’s] not sure if he should take the process seriously or play to the cheap seats. I love that sort of just to work it out for himself and he realizes that he’s miscalculated and that Steven has actually taken it more seriously than he has. I love that discovery (Robert’s discovery and our discovery) that he’s been trying to figure it out. We were attracted to young men who take politics seriously. No doubt, all of them do. Robert had been a page in the U S Senate. Stephen had worked on political campaigns. Ben, as you know, had a Ronald Reagan doll on his bookshelf and is a political junkie. Renee is already like a grownup and taking activism and politics seriously. So we connected with their serious commitment to the political process and caring about it. No doubt that we saw boys that don’t take it seriously. You see them pass legislation about Prius drivers going to Oklahoma and pineapple pizza. That’s funny, but then actually got serious. I think that tension in Robert, in the group (and maybe our country as a whole) is really sort of reflective, right? It is actually kind of where we’re at. People want to go to Washington and blow up the system, whatever that means. We’re left with a bunch of rubble or they want to kind of come together and figure it out. Those ideologies are in contest at Boys State and exaggerated form.” 

“They’re also 17, right?” reminds McBaine. “We’re also making a coming-of-age film. I think that straddle of boyhood and headed towards manhood thing is a space we also wanted to visit frankly and check in with. So, to some degree, the serious unserious is part of their everyday in everything they do, let alone what happens.”

Similarly, one of the most fascinating explorations within Boys State becomes the drive for power. Although being elected within their system offers no real weight outside of Boys State, the drive to victory becomes a purpose unto itself for many of the youth. Asked what they saw regarding the pressure of obtaining power, Moss feels their experience shows that, while some people are simply willing to do whatever it takes to win, others do understand the importance of serving in political office.

“I think no doubt this kind of lust for power for power sake is something we’re living with and the consequences of that now in a very profound and unsettling way,” says Moss. “I love the moment where Steven has asked, ‘What is the purpose of a politician?’ (He’s campaigning for signatures on his ballot.) He says ‘To serve others and not themselves.’ That simple and yet profound definition is something we all need to remind ourselves about. I think you see it in Ben (and he would recognize it now himself with some perspective) that there’s a kind of corrosive aspect to winning an election at all costs for the sake of winning. He really embodies that in his strategy and his tactics. He’s brilliant at it. He even invokes some military kind of metaphors and talks about politics and winning as combined arms warfare, sort of exaggerated kind of violence to politics. So, confronting that and actually hearing Ben’s direct bluntness about it was shocking. But I think also what gave us hope was to see young men of color like Renee and Steven who have very different politics than the mainstream at Boys State rise to power because they have a positive vision. That sort of power for a purpose, if you will, was very hopeful for us to see not only them offer that vision, but to see their vision return in the support of the electorate.”

Since the experience consists of 1,100 young men battling for political gamesmanship, the film also feels like a window into youthful (and potentially toxic) masculinity. Filmed at the time surrounding the MeToo movement of 2018, McBaine notes that, while she didn’t know what to expect, she was encouraged by what she saw in some of the young men.

“We went with all these questions about democracy and hyperpolarization, and what are [the next generation are] taking in, and what they’re seeing in adult state,” she clarifies. “I think what we didn’t quite realize until we got into the room with 1,100 boys, that we also had this incredible window into boyhood. [It was] 2018. I guess if I thought hard enough beforehand, I would have realized this is what we’re going to see, but not until I got there did I really have to confront that we were making a film about masculinity on some level. I’ve never been in a space like that. Myself and two other cinematographers I think we were the only females for miles around. There was plenty on display there that kind of met my expectations for good or for bad about what I would see.” 

“In checking in on boyhood in 2018, around the era of MeToo, around conversations about toxic masculinity [and] what they’re seeing in politics in Washington, I knew I was going to see a certain amount of it. Some of it was going to scare the heck out of me and some of it was going to upset me. What I wasn’t totally prepared for—and I love this about what I do for a living—is that I then also saw and experienced all kinds of masculinity I hadn’t expected to see. And that really did involve a lot more empathy. Not just from Steven, this was really in a lot more spaces around the event than I thought, [with] listening and real emotion, frankly. It was an emotional week that I didn’t think was going to be an emotional week. That too has power in that space, and truly profound power. The connections that were made between some of these boys was really heartening, frankly and made me less worried about the men of the future… We want to do [Girls State] next. I don’t really have any good intel on what happens in those spaces yet, but we plan to soon.” 

When he considers whether or not their experience at Boys State has changed their view of the current political system, Moss believes that the film shows the type of maturity and growth within the participants that gives him hope for the future.

“I think we both wanted, on some level, a Hollywood ending to our story,” Moss reflects. “Actually, it was a process to accept what the outcome was, but we found it actually ultimately very uplifting that it’s a struggle. Stephen will continue to fight for what he believes in and he has so much to offer both in he himself, um, but in what he embodies and will inspire in others. Renee as well, what’s also been great to see is how much reflection Ben has brought to his behavior two years ago at Boys’ State and now he recognizes the corrosive impact of such politics on our body politic. He’s really disavowed that kind of politicking and the gamesmanship. I think that kind of moral growth we need as a country, he shown us in person, and that’s also really hopeful. Just the fact that we can still all get together, Ben, Renee, Steven, Robert, and kind of talk in a small form embodies what I hope for us as a country. We may not agree on everything, but at least come together and find out as Steven would say, what can we agree on? I’m sure there is something.”

Boys State is available on AppleTV+ now.

Boys State: Politicizing Youth

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“I think he’s a fantastic politician… but I don’t think fantastic politician is a compliment either.” – Rene Otero, Boys State

Streaming on AppleTV+, the new documentary Boys State takes the viewer behind the scenes at Boys State, a summer leadership program for teenage boys, developed by The American Legion. (The film indicates that there is also a Girls State program but the filmmakers opt to only follow the males.) With over a thousand teenagers in attendance, the youth are challenged to build a representative government from the ground up. As the young men nominate and elect candidates, they also must decide what means—and requires—to win at the game of politics.

Boys State

Produced and directed by Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine, State is a fascinating look at both the inner-workings of the US political system and the poisonous effects of power. While the film may focus on one week of ‘camp’ for teenage boys, it feels like a fly on the wall of the American political sanctum. Featuring all the battles between moral judgments and political power that one would expect within the world of the US government, Boys State is both a terrifying look at the corrupting nature of power and a glimmer of hope that the next generation of leaders will set right the mistakes of the past. 

While the week begins with the teens bringing the expected amount of youthful exuberance into the political process (like, for example, attempting to secede Texas from the US), things eventually begin to take a turn as process progresses. As the race for Governor begins to pick up steam, things become far more serious behind the scenes as candidates begin to move away from youthful chaos into political positioning. As smear campaigns, double speak and blind dedication to ‘whatever the Party agrees on’ begin to arise in backroom conversations, the teens begin to sound less like youth and more like their adult counterparts on Capitol Hill. (In fact, one candidate even goes so far as to mention that his primary impulse for entering into the race is not about serving others but simply to fulfill his own need to ‘win’.) In doing so, State becomes an example of how the drive for power can corrupt at any age when winning turn out to be the primary objective.

At the same time, while some candidates become obsessed with achieving their goals for personal glory, State also shows that there are some candidates who remain committed to victory through honourable means. In the face of political maneuverings, some youth are willing to maintain their character in a healthy manner. But can they win that way? In many ways, the greatest—and most terrifying—question within Boys State is not whether or not the youth will resort to ‘dirty campaign tricks’ but whether or not keeping their integrity will bring victory in the end. 

In this way, State feels like a film that features a battle for the soul of a nation. If the young men selected to participate Boys State see the importance of integrity in their politicians, maybe the next generation will also consider that a high value. If not, it stands to reason that little will change in the future. As a result, Boys State may focus on a week of camp for teenage boys but, in actuality, the film is about much more than that. As these young men fight for power amongst their peers, their decisions may also offers a glimpse into the future, whether its bleak or hopeful.

Boys State premieres on Apple TV+ on July 17th, 2020.

To hear audio of our interview with directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine, click here.

Dads: A Love Letter to Fathers

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Dads don’t always get a lot of good press these days.

At a time when important conversations about toxic masculinity dominate the news and absentee and abusive fathers have become common, men have become better known for their sins than their strengths. From acts of violence to abuse of their authority, the nightly news features the latest examples of how men have lost sight of what it means to be a positive influence.

Thankfully, Dads, the new documentary by Bryce Dallas Howard, wants to tell us another story.

In her directorial debut, Howard takes the opportunity to explore modern fatherhood and celebrate those men who want to leave a positive mark on the lives of their children. Beginning with personal stories about her own famous father, Howard clearly wants Dads to be a love letter to fathers who remain dedicated to their families. Juxtaposing the testimonials of such celebrity parents as Will Smith, Neil Patrick Harris, Kim Jeong, Hasan Minhaj and many others with the stories of everyday families around the world, Howard recognizes the successes, challenges and failures that dads experience as they attempt to navigate the world of contemporary parenting.

Charming and engaging, Howard’s doc balances its voice effectively by showcasing men of different races, sexualities and social status in order to offer a variety of perspectives on fatherhood and the male experience. In doing so, Howard brings to light many of the common experiences of these men who want their children to be healthy and feel loved. Though their circumstances differ, each of the men featured in Howard’s doc hold the responsibility of parenthood firmly in view as they struggle to navigate the challenges of raising children. Whether they are breaking stereotypes as stay-at-home fathers or looking to maintain a work-life balance, each testimonial speaks to the sacrifices that these men are willing to make for the sake of their child’s emotional or physical health. While none of these men suggest their own perfection, each one speaks to the depth of their commitment to their families, despite their anxieties about their role as parents.

In fact, it’s the film’s openness about paternal insecurities that gives Dads its emotional weight. While the film offers numerous success stories about what it means to be a committed parent, the openness of her subjects and interviews serves as a reminder that fatherhood is often riddled with feelings of inadequacy. Regardless of their situation, each man openly expresses the fears and frustrations of attempting to navigate the trials of raising children ‘without a manual’. Though every father featured adores their family, they all confess to feeling insufficient in their role, unsure of whether or not they actually measure up as a parent. (In fact, in one particularly honest moment, Minhaj even points out that his greatest question is whether it’s actually he or his children that are the ones that truly decide the quality of his parenting.) 

By giving voice to their parental insecurities, Howard recognizes the humanity of the men that have influenced our lives. Highlighting their brokenness, the true beauty of Dads is that it paints these men with a loving brush of grace as a reminder that their role matters in the lives of their children. For Howard, the point is not to depict these men as faultless but rather serve as a reminder of the love that drives so many fathers, despite their imperfections. (After all, doesn’t love cover a multitude of sins?) In this way, Howards portrays her subjects as examples of commitment and courage, regardless of their situations or flaws.

While Dads contains very few ‘revelations’ about parenting, it’s clear from the outset that this is never the intent of the film. Instead, Howard’s debut is meant to be ‘thank you card’ to fathers of all types that reveals what goes on in their minds, whether it be their reactions when they first meet their child to dealing with feelings of failure. As a result, Dads is an emotionally powerful celebration of the imperfect men in our lives and their impact upon us all.

Dads is available to stream on Apple TV+ now.