I wanted to see The Miseducation of Cameron Post in theaters, but despite previews airing in local theaters, it played in few theaters, which was disappointing considering that I felt as if I owed Desiree Akhavan, the director and one of the writers, money for seeing her first film, Appropriate Behavior, by streaming. In contrast, Boy Erased played at two nearby theaters for a considerable length of time. I hope that the disparate treatment was due to star power, difference in quality or the fact that the latter was based on a memoir, not a young adult novel because if it was because the protagonist is a teenage girl, not a teenage boy, I’ll flip tables.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post stars Chloe Grace Moretz as a teenage girl who is sent to a gay conversion therapy center after others discover that she is sexually attracted to girls. It is also a period piece set in the early 1990s. There are two converging storylines as we watch the titular character adjust to her new surroundings and fantasize about the past and how she ended up there.
The strength of The Miseducation of Cameron Post lies in the ensemble cast’s ability to convincingly create a well-worn world with unique individuals interacting in a common space without painting it on with a trowel or feeling forced or like an Afterschool Special. They seem like real kids, not twenty-somethings who are pretending to be kids. Just when I was ready to write off a character or was not really invested in one, some event would happen that would make me completely reevaluate and become invested in that person. It takes an engaging story, good writing/adapting for the screen and good acting to take me on unexpected emotional journeys with these brief glimpses into each kid’s emotional life.
Oddly enough I was least invested in the titular character. I have historically considered Moretz a great actor, but her performance in Suspiria was the only one that didn’t work for me. It didn’t feel as if there were two possible readings of her character’s behavior, just one, and in The Miseducation of Cameron Post, her character seems less self-possessed than vacant except in her physical encounters and that mirror scene. To be fair, Moretz could be perfectly executing the director’s instructions because in this movie, people are constantly annoyed that she knows everything about them and shares nothing. In this role, she feels like the human equivalent of a computer that is on, but asleep when she isn’t doing anything.
For me, an unspoken question of The Miseducation of Cameron Post was would she remain true to herself or turn into her roommate and drink the Kool-Aid then betray others. I never thought that she would break, but it is also another option. I didn’t want two kids to trust her: Adam, a Lakota boy played by Forrest Goodluck, and Jane, played by Sasha Lane whom I remember from Hearts Beat Loud. They were the resistance. I was particularly invested in Adam’s story because his story felt the most intersectional. He definitely gets special treatment not inflicted upon the others. It is simply depicted, a casual note not belabored, a particular target of rage because he is distinct. There is no explanation for the harsh treatment, but as viewers we know whereas everyone else is in a minefield completely clueless regarding what will trigger a rebuke.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post disabuses us of the notion that we aren’t like Communist Russia where dissent was punished with a trip to the gulag, Mao’s Cultural Revolution or Siberia or Pol Pot’s reeducation camps. It is not as physically brutal, but it is just as insidious because of the mental gaslighting. It is seen as medicinal. It is superficially benevolent and nurturing, but dude, if you can’t sleep without being interrogated about your thoughts, it is fracked up. A big horror in fundamentalist culture about the End Times is the idea that the people around you will rat you out to the authorities, and even though the scenario is depicted in a movie, is it fictional? That part is shocking.
Without being too preachy, The Miseducation of Cameron Post correctly lays the blame on the adults’ whims when their parents’ reinvention demands that their children change with them and accept a completely different ethos than the one that they raised them to believe. Of course, hetereonormativity does not require a change in parenting in most cases. It is simply the air that is breathed. It is a testament to the human spirit of LGBTQ people that against all odds were and are able to hold strong when the majority is giving a completely different message, but also a tragedy and no fault of the victim when he or she succumbed to the mental water torture. It reminded me of The Lobster, which only addresses heterosexual couples., except the events do not unfold in a surreal setting
The Miseducation of Cameron Post wisely uses music, one of the most important aspects of the life of a young person, to elicit empathy in an audience that may not be able to fully relate with the kids. As a person brought up in fundamentalist culture, I can solidly attest to the fact that music is a major aspect of life that gets critiqued of being of the world and that I tried and failed to reform—see, we police ourselves and don’t even know it. Prince’s music is just too good, and Christian music of that era usually was just a pale imitation of secular music with more acceptable lyrics. Columbia House was every kid’s lifeline.
I really appreciated that while never centralizing the adults’ story, The Miseducation of Cameron Post did a good job of evoking a full life that we could tragically understand, especially Reverend Rick. So many subconscious elements are mixed up in this enterprise: family dynamics, money, ego, professional reputations. The camp was just a broader replication of two people’s misexamined, dysfunctional, controlling and probably abusive relationship, which coincidentally happened to result in what society wants so it never questions why two siblings work and live together with a guard inmate type relationship, especially since the inmate is a grown ass man. There is a concept of interpreting life events, competing narratives versus Occam’s razor. A lot is on the line if the adults ever question their motives in running this camp, but they may never do so, which adds a note of haunting melancholy and loneliness that stayed with me long after the movie ended.
The final scene of The Miseducation of Cameron Post is brilliant in terms of composition, acting and emotion. Akhavan stays with the subjects just a tad longer than expected that makes the viewer uncomfortable and reflects the anxiousness, uncertainty and doubts on the characters’ faces. In real life, even though we want this to be a happy ending, we know that in terms of practicality, it can’t be, and Akhavan never sacrifices the real for the romantic. I hope that she will be in front of the screen in her next film and still owe her money.