Outside of the people who run for student government, does anyone
in high school really care who gets elected class president? And yet isn't that
what makes stories about student-body elections so fascinating? The stakes are
so low, yet the way these kids campaign—and the reasons their classmates
vote for them—says a lot about the political process and the American educational system's
12-year-long popularity contest. Caroline Suh's documentary Frontrunners follows the presidential election
at Stuyvesant High, an exclusive Manhattan magnet school known for turning out
future leaders. But even at this rarefied a level, the same mundane process of
putting up posters and passing out flyers pertains. And even the award-winning
student newspaper votes on its much-coveted candidate endorsement in the
classic "heads down, raise your hand" school-kid secret ballot.
Aside from the somewhat grating blasts of indie-rock that
pop up on Frontrunners' soundtrack, Suh covers Stuyvesant's race vérité-style, interspersing
direct-to-the-camera interviews with fly-on-the-wall observations of the
candidates and their friends. Though these kids are uncommonly driven, they
still act like high-schoolers, reliably fumbling their attempts to look cool
and mature when the pressure's on. One of the candidates, Hannah Freiman, is a
cheerleading captain and semi-pro actor with movie and TV credits already on
her résumé, yet in unguarded moments, she still chews on her ponytail and
stares into space, wondering what she's gotten herself into.
For the most part, what happens in Frontrunners doesn't matter much. These are
privileged teens bound for good schools no matter what happens, and they all
seem mature enough to handle a loss. But what makes the movie fascinating is
the particulars of the campaigns, from the way the candidates consider how to
choose a running mate that will appeal to the right cliques, to the way they
discuss exactly how a win would improve their chances to get into a top
college. In the end, their main concern is how to be outstanding in a field
overrun with bright flowers. As Hannah's mother fretfully says, "She strives to
be the best, and there are so many bests at Stuyvesant."