One word comes to mind when discussing the documentary films of Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss (the team behind Boys State and Girls State), and that word is present. Despite their latest film often using archival VHS footage from 30 years ago, this coming-of-age/ investigative thriller documentary feels very much of the now. It’s a style these two have mastered. Back in 1991, a renegade teacher named Fred Isseks created an extracurricular course called ‘Electronic English’. The course was mainly there to give students some hands-on experience with the school’s video equipment. The students made comedy skits, music videos, and news bulletins. But eventually, they would stumble upon information that would move them to investigate their small town and uncover a massive scheme of toxic proportions.
Rachel Raimist, Jeff Dutemple, Mike Regan, Frank Biasi and others were students at Middletown High School in Middletown, NY, back in ‘91. They would be the first members of the Electronic English class to investigate the city’s garbage collection sites, which had become filled with toxic waste and were threatening the town’s drinking water and farmland. What started as a pretty innocuous school project blew up into one of the city’s biggest conspiracies. Drawing the attention of the national news media, including the New York Times.
These students fought against indifferent adults, corrupt politicians, and a compromised local news media that refused to heed the challenge brought to them by teenagers. Although the doc does show several scenes of the students making local media and politicians squirm when faced with difficult, probing questions. These are among some of the lighter moments of the film. There are others involving a mysterious informant and the embarrassment the kids feel now, later, knowing they were doing…other things in the video equipment room as well. The doc keeps these moments infrequent between the tense reality that the kids are up against, and the film is all the better for it.
Throughout the doc, we see the story told through archival footage that Isseks has maintained all these years, interspersed with interviews from Isseks and the students now 30 years later. The film is both a reflection on their determined effort and an unflinching look at the depths of corruption still present in our government today. Through this approach, McBaine and Moss have crafted a film that, despite taking place 30 years ago, feels like a call to action today. The film is both inspiring and soul-crushing. In the end, the kids don’t get the win they’re hoping for. They graduate, and some move on. Even though the Electronic English class continued and many students later joined in the efforts to expose this issue, the results were mixed. A 2-million-dollar fee was assessed to the garbage company, and Louis Mongelli Sr, the mobster in charge, was sent into witness protection. The landfills were covered, not cleaned, and no real assessment of the damage has been done yet.
This heartbreaking reality of the film strikes at a nerve that is central to our politics today: It is essential that people stand up and do something, even if it’s as small as a journalism assignment, and it shouldn’t matter whether those people are adults, politicians, or just kids who care. It’s up to us to not allow our government and our communities to be abused for anyone’s profit. In the documentary, Isseks tells his students rather point-blankly that they do not live in a democracy, but that they should conduct themselves as if they do. It’s one of the central messages of the film. That as we struggle to hold on to the tenets that our country was built around, we do our damndest to maintain them and make sure they are allowed to remain intact.
Aside from being a nostalgic trip to the fuzzy VHS days of the 90s, the film is also a tremendous reflection on the profession of teaching. Fred Isseks is a model instructor. Constantly guiding his students to use their power, their voice, and the tools at their disposal to be intuitive, critical thinkers who aren’t afraid to challenge power and can, regardless of age, speak up for themselves and their communities. There is a lot to take from this powerful documentary on corruption, cover-ups, greed, and the invigorating fight of the youth, but it is a statement that good teachers matter. And we need a lot more of them in the world.
You can walk away from Teenage Wasteland feeling hopeful, infuriated, or rejuvenated to get back into the trenches, and that is the point – that no matter what, the fight continues. So, it’s time we all take a cue from McBaine and Moss and be as present as we can possibly be.
Teenage Wasteland is currently playing in select theaters.
There is a lot to take from this powerful documentary on corruption, cover-ups, greed, and the invigorating fight of the youth, but it is a statement that good teachers matter. And we need a lot more of them in the world.
Phoenix is a father of two, the co-host and editor of the Curtain to Curtain Podcast, co-founder of the International Film Society Critics Association. He’s also a member of the Pandora International Critics, Independent Critics of America, Online Film and Television Association, and Film Independent. With the goal of eventually becoming a filmmaker himself. He’s also obsessed with musical theater.
