Back in 2020, filmmakers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine ended up having remarkable success with their film “Boys State,” which follows some participants of Boys State in Austin, Texas.
This film went on to win the U.S. Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
Because of this, it is no surprise that they decided to have a go at making the documentary “Girls State.” As a spinoff of “Boys State,” it premiered for the first time at Sundance on Jan. 18 before it found its permanent home on Amazon Plus and was officially released on April. 15.
It primarily follows seven girls taking part in Missouri Girls State at Lindenwood University as they campaign for places in government, form friendships, and discover the differences between Girls and Boys State.
This movie takes a strong focus and stands on female empowerment and feminism. By talking about cases like Roe vs. Wade, which at the time this was filmed had not yet been overturned.
They display how females do have the power to make a change and hold more powerful roles in government, and how young women want to make a change.
It does an excellent job of highlighting this aspect throughout the film and getting the message across to the viewer. I also found it did well in displaying the bounds between the girls and how they empowered one another and, even when disappointed, still were supportive of one another.
Another large factor of this film was that, for the first time in Girls State history, they were going to be on the same campus as the Boys state. This quickly opened the door for the girls to see the differences between them. Emily Worthmore, one of the girls the film focuses on, even investigates and writes a story showing how drastically different they are from the activities they do to the funding they get.
One critique of the film is it felt like they did not give us enough time to let us get to know and connect with the girls who were not as heavily focused. They end up having more of a sideline role and feel forgettable in the end.
All in all, it was a pretty good film. It was executed nicely and managed to remain pretty unbiased about political beliefs, even though they are talked about a lot in the film. It sends out a powerful message about not only female empowerment and supporting one another but also about the government and the passion this generation has for it.
