The Wonderful Documentary, "Best Boy"

Ira Wohl’s 1979 Academy Award winning documentary, “Best Boy” is a fantastic account of three years in the life of Philip “Philly” Wohl, Ira’s cousin. Philly is retarded and has been living a mostly secluded life in his parents’ house for most of his 52 years. Ira’s idea is to obtain his aunt and uncle’s permission to send Philly to a school for the retarded so Philly may gain more experience in the outside world and learn what he can so as to function a little bit better after his parents pass away. Philly’s parents, Pearl and Max, are retired. Both are near 80 years old so their ability to care for Philly will soon pass.



“Best Boy” is a filmed documentation of Philly’s time in his new school and the outings he goes on with Ira and Ira’s friend Christine. They take Philly to see “Fiddler on the Roof” on Broadway, take him the park, and several months later, Philly goes to a special six week camp for retardates.

The most impressive element of this film is how it documents how Philly is always happy. He does not see life as a burden, however, one can tell by observing his parents, especially his elderly and increasingly sick father that he is, indeed, a burden, a burden who they, of course love and are compelled to care for. The juxtaposition of how Philly sees the world and how his parents see it is fascinating. Whether Ira Wohl intended this to be part of his film or not, I could not tell, however, whichever is the case, this juxtaposition is the soul of the film. I think he probably did intend for this to be a part of his film. Not one time in “Best Boy” does the audience see Philly angry, upset, or sad. Oftentimes, however, do we see the quiet frustration, but still love, of his parents. His parents are loving towards Philly and never outwardly show him their frustration. Perhaps this is one reason why Philly does not appear to have any internal anger or sadness, while his father, though a quiet man, is definitely sad and angry, but he loves his son and his wife and does not verbalize how he feels.

One reason I like this film quite a bit is that it is from a different generation of documentary filmmaking. Ira Wohl’s goal is to simply document what happens to Philly and Philly’s progress over the course of a few years. Such is stated by Wohl at the beginning of the film. Throughout the film there is no forced conflict and fake drama as one may unfortunately see in today’s reality tv. Ira Wohl has a plan, sticks to it, and is successful in documenting exactly what he set out to do. He captures interesting moments and the film is edited in a way that keeps the story flowing at a relaxed pace. I never felt rushed through the proceedings.

I saw “Best Boy” in a list I found online of Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert’s Top 10 Lists From 1969-1998. “Best Boy” was number 10 on Ebert’s list for 1980. Not knowing anything about the film, I was fairly certain that it was not a movie about a crew person working on a movie set. I looked up the title on IMDB and found it to be a film I would be interested in seeing, especially considering the endorsement of having a spot on an Ebert or a Siskel Top 10 list in addition to the fact that I love a well-made documentary. “Best Boy” is as “human” and “personal” a film as you may encounter. I urge those interested to seek it out and give it a shot. It is available on dvd from Netflix.