All American High Revisited

Earlier this month I came across a touching documentary about the lives of young Americans growing up in the early 1980s.

It offered a glimpse back to a time and a place that no longer exists, but one that many would recognise either because they lived through that era, or have seen it portrayed in movies and TV shows.

When the original documentary All American High was made, there was no internet or social media, no cell phones, and no reality TV.

For one year, documentary-maker Keva Rosenfeld turned his camera on the Class of 1984 at the school, capturing the lives and times of young students at a typical US high school (in this instance Torrance High, in the southern reaches of Los Angeles).

Now, 30-odd years later All American High Revisited is the original documentary updated with some of the former students reflecting on the school experience and their adult lives.

There is nothing startling to be seen - no great or shocking revelations to be found, but it is precisely this ordinariness that gives the documentary its beauty. It is a time capsule showing how things used to be, in what now seems like a quaint and simpler era. We see students in the classroom discussing the pros and cons of nuclear deterrents, learning about home-making and married life, we see them preparing for the Home Coming Queen parade, dating, and attending keg parties. There are the punkers, metallers, preppies and cheerleaders, and even a social dancing event after-hours in a shopping mall.

Choosing exchange student Riikkamari Rauhala, from Finland, as the narrator was an inspired decision. She was attending the school for a year and we get to see much of the activities through her outsider eyes, with insights and perspectives that might not have been possible from a homegrown student already versed in the culture of being a young American in the 1980s.

Most of the documentary is footage from the original film, but the "revisited" segment comes towards the end when we meet Riikkamari as she is today, in her 50s, along with a few of the other students who are now grown up. Narrator Riikkamari had intended to go to the five-year reunion after leaving Torrance High in 1984, but didn't. Like many of us, she soon found herself pre-occupied with living her life. The schooldays and friends faded away.

All American High Revisited is fun. For Riikkamari and the others it was a chance to stop the clock for a moment and look back at where they once where, and where they are today. For viewers it is perhaps an opportunity to do the same, while also enjoying a reminder of the music, the hairstyles and the ambiance of the early-to-mid 1980s.

The documentary has been released digitally in the UK and a number of other countries. It can be viewed through digital download on popular sites (iTunes, Amazon, Virgin Media, etc).
All American High Revisited is due to be released in the US during September.