The word “reality” has been bandied about in the world of entertainment so much lately that the first thing you think of when hearing the word is fake. I have to admit I entered the cinema with this cynical view to watch a documentary centered on 5 teenagers in their senior year of high school, class of 2006, in Warsaw Indiana.
The community the movie is set in is predominantely white and middle class, although there seems to be at least a few afluent families, and at least a few people of color. I couldn’t help but think that maybe in 50 to 100 years, this documentary will be more about an extinct middle American white community than about teenagers, but I digress…
Now, its been many years since I was a teenager, but I didn’t think there really was much difference with being a teenager in today’s society than it was in the early 80s, when I was in high school. I was right, for the most part. Kids are still kids. They still treat each other poorly, they still have the same concerns and fears. They even have the same dreams as we did when we were their age. The big difference is lag time. There is none in today’s teen world. Everyone has a cell phone, everyone is on the Internet, and it seems pretty easy to text message someone in class, much easier than passing notes was anyway. So rumors, innuendo, and gossip spreads at lightspeed. It seemed like these kids were used to it, and I think it was amazing me much more than it was affecting them.
The movie centers on kids from different cliques. There is the popular girl, the jock, the artsy girl, the geek, the hood. No wait, that’s Breakfast Club. I guess they don’t have any hoods in this community, so they replaced him with the good looking guy. My first impression of these kids was wow, they are all so messed up! But as we sit and watch the train wreck that is the average teenagers life unfold before us, I realized that they are not any more messed up than any other human being is at that point in their lives. I forgot a very important thing: teenagers make a huge deal out of every single little thing.
I found myself rooting for the geek, at the beginning. I guess I identified more with him than the others, and that may tell you which clique I belonged to in high school. But I have to say, Nanette Burstein did a great job portraying these lives because at some point, you find yourself rooting for all of them, even the really mean popular girl.
If I had to use one word to describe the movie, it would be compelling. You just can’t turn away. Even from the uncomfortable parts. What more can you ask for from a documentary? Well, maybe truth, I guess that is something you can ask for.
I had a few problems with what seemed to be inconsistancies in chronology. One kid’s face miraculously clears up one day, just to be marred with acne the next. All of the girls seemed to look alike, so it was difficult for me to distinguish between who was in and who was out of certain social circles. Burstein would have needed several camera crews working 24 hours a day to capture some of these events in real time, as she leads us to believe. I will admit it did make me question the validity of some of the scenes. And it seemed the only parents that made the final cut were the bad ones, the ones that were putting ridiculous pressure on their children, or were unconcsiously passing on their own inner demons to their children.
Could all parents possibly be this bad? Besides these small issues, I did enjoy this film. There are some very funny scenes, some disturbing ones, and some very poignent moments. American Teen is worth your time.
One last thing, if you decide to see it, make sure you stay through most of the credits if you want to get updates on where these teens are today (two years after graduation).
