When I first met Follow the Leader’s director Jonathan at Pennsylvania Boys State six years ago, I enjoyed being the guy (if only a 16-year-old guy at that) behind the camera – not in front of it.

In fact, I first struck up conversation with Jonathan because I was fascinated with his camera (especially the fluffy microphone), and wanted to learn more about his project. In high school, I co-produced a documentary about a failed dam project in my hometown of Milford, Pennsylvania. And I loved picking up the old home camcorder on the weekends to make ridiculous short movies with some friends in my neighborhood.

Being a participant in a film was something I never imagined nor desired, and I was particularly skeptical about a film focused on me. So what was it like?

Participating in a documentary is not like acting in a movie. That much I knew from the start and was comfortable with, because I never liked acting. It is also not like being interviewed for the 6:00 News (even for a very long interview!). This second difference took some time for me to learn and was, perhaps, the aspect I struggled with the most.

For anyone who aspires to be involved in politics, being authentic on-camera, or with any other recording device for that matter, is tough. Gosh, you might do something stupid, or say something that can sound terribly or be taken out of context (or, worse, in context). But Jonathan would always encourage authenticity because, he said, people respond better to human stories and honesty…the good, the bad and the ugly.

“OK, thanks for the CNN answer…now what do you really think?,” he would say.

As I got to know Jonathan more, and frankly trusted him more, participating in the documentary was more like going through life with a new friend who just happened to bring a camera along to our adventures and occasionally shouted some questions. I would at times forget altogether that a microphone was clipped to me (which made for some awkward moments!).

In the end, it all paid off. In watching the film for the first time, I saw my very real, unfiltered life – not an interview on the news. I saw a journey of political persuasion, personal relationships, and professional development – being shaped by time, experience and my environment.

And while my personal reaction to some scenes was like sucking on sour candy, I got the sense from those around me that they could relate to my story and learn something from it for their own lives. At a recent preview screening in Washington, D.C., a member of the audience even thanked me for opening up my life, realizing it’s not an easy thing to do.

So I’m glad I took Jonathan’s advice about authenticity and just being me. (A certain Republican nominee for president might also stand to benefit from doing the same.)

PART 3 of 3: SEE IT IF YOU DARE —

THIS FILM COULD IMPROVE OUR COUNTRY

Continued from PART 2 and before that PART 1.

If I were a high school Civics or Government teacher (or a college Political Science professor), I would consider Follow the Leader mandatory viewing for my course, because it shines such a bright light into the realm of political education and development. Even among people who are well-versed on political issues, it isn’t very often that they stop and think about why they carry the political beliefs they do. For the average person, simply believing what you believe is enough. Even if you can justify how you think, it’s still rare for people to understand exactly how they came to those conclusions.

Meta-cognition (particularly about politics) isn’t something we pay very much attention to. The way that Follow the Leader forces its audience to confront not only what they believe but how they came to believe it is practically uncharted political territory. If the right young people see this film, it could have profound effects on the way they think about themselves in the political continuum and maybe that could make the American political landscape a little more rational, along with a little less reactive, jingoistic, and cynical.

If you couldn’t tell, Follow the Leader left a deep resonance. It’s been over a month since I’ve seen the film, and I still find myself wrestling with the implications of Nick, Ben, and D.J.’s journeys. The potential for this film to create a useful dialogue across college campuses throughout the country is simply enormous.

As I said, I had given up politics. It had hurt me so deeply and left me in such a depressed, bitter funk that I had to go cold turkey or it would kill me emotionally. And yet Follow the Leader managed to relight part of that spark in my soul. For some of us, it never completely goes away. Shouldn’t we create a political environment in this country where an air of compromise or jaded cynicism isn’t the inevitability? Perhaps, if enough of our nation’s youth see Follow the Leaderand realize their doubts, transformations, and dreams aren’t solitary instances, we can take the steps to help keep that fire alive for the United States as a whole.

PART 2 of 3: CATHARSIS AND REVELATIONS

(Continued from PART 1)

Perhaps because I’ve personally known Nick over the years and my ultimate life path of being involved with a wide variety of organizations only to see a lot of them fall apart or not live up to their own professed standards was very similar to his story in the film, it was the scenes with him that struck me at the deepest level (not that Ben and D.J. didn’t impact me significantly as well). However, even for the most casual political observer, Nick’s intellectual and personal journey over the course of the film is something that everyone can relate to.

Through his young eyes, you see a young adult with both a deep love of public service and a true passion for government and involvement. However, you also see first hand the ambition and confidence that any potential leader has to have. It takes a certain type of mindset (and not in a derogatory sense, a certain sized ego) to believe you have what it takes to be the POTUS (editor’s note: that’s President Of The United States, if anyone reading this isn’t already a political junkie who’s known that since birth). With Follow the Leader, you see how issues like not getting recognized by your father (Ben), a need for a competitive outlet (D.J.), and a considerable desire to prove himself (all three subjects) pushes them to a path with the greatest public acknowledgement.

As I watched the film, I was constantly struck by a feeling as if someone had recorded the last five years of my life, changed some of the minor details, and cast different people to play me. That’s how true of an experience Follow the Leader is. As someone whose sole goal in life was to be elected to public office but found himself so jaded by the obstinacy of the right, and then the incompetence and “weak-kneedness” of the left, that he gave it all up, I found a reflection of myself in these film’s characters despite our complete lack of agreement on the issues.

My own neuroses and long dialectics with friends over the years had already helped me realize what it was that pushed me towards politics as a youth (ambition fueled by a need for power and recognition, after ruthless bullying as a child). But Follow the Leader still managed to help me open my eyes to how I was growing during my pivotal teen years, and point out that there are countless other kids across the country who experienced similar philosophical trajectories.

RETURN TOMORROW FOR PART 3:

SEE IT IF YOU DARE: A FILM TO IMPROVE OUR COUNTRY

PART 1 of 3: YEARS OF CHANGE ONE NEVER SEES

Several years ago, at the same time director Jonathan Goodman Levitt’s real-life political coming-of-age documentary Follow the Leader begins, I was in a similar place as the film’s young subjects. I was the same age as Nick, Ben, and D.J., and it was the summer before my senior year of high school. I, too, was attending a Boys State program (like the boys do in the opening sequence of the film). As a young, politically ambitious student with dreams of one day being President of the United States, the only difference between myself and this film’s subjects was geography and the fact that I was a young liberal instead of a young conservative. My own political journey as an adolescent began as a conservative, though, so even more direct parallels still exist.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to a small preview screening of Follow the Leader, and I can say with complete sincerity that Follow the Leader was an almost frighteningly accurate and insightful examination of what it means to come of age in our modern political environment. Like no other film, it digs deeply into, unpacks and exposes the social, psychological, and environmental factors that have shaped our current generation of young leaders.

When politicians are displayed on the big screen, it is invariably after they have “made it.” The only moments in politician’s lives (unless they become a nationally significant figure and they write their own memoirs) that we ever see are those times when they’ve reached the national spotlight. What we almost never get to see is Bill Clinton at Georgetown, President Obama as a young high school student in Hawaii, or Mitt Romney at Brigham Young University. Think about that for a second though. In the life of a young intellectual or any young ambitious person, the beginning of college and the final year of high school are the most transformative years of your life. The changes to your personality stay with you the rest of your life and influence your entire worldview.

If your college/high school education accomplishes what it was meant to, your entire system of thought changes. And the way that you analyze and process the world around you is markedly different than when it began. In Follow the Leader, you see these explosive, dynamic years in the lives of young leaders as they’re happening, and as someone who walked virtually the same path as the film’s subjects, it was a surprisingly emotional experience.

(More from Don here on the Participants…Unfiltered Blog this Monday and Tuesday…namely Part 2: CATHARSIS AND REVELATIONS, and Part 3: SEE IT IF YOU DARE – A FILM THAT COULD IMPROVE OUR COUNTRY)

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