Vivid, Intimate, Hopeful: A Review of PAHOKEE

Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️/❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Trailer

To watch PAHOKEE is to be completely immersed in the lives of its subjects. The film follows several passionate high school students navigating life’s joys and hurdles in an agricultural Everglades town. It centers mostly black and brown voices, shedding light on culturally specific hopes and dreams in quietly radical ways. The love with which the filmmakers portray these people and their stories makes them unforgettable.

The film’s character-centric vignettes are broken up by beautifully edited montages. These lyrical, mood-shifting sequences show workers farming, fishing, managing fast food restaurants, and transporting equipment from one place to another. These images convey what fuels Pahokee economically and suggest what someone's future there might hold. The inclusion of these sequences—spliced between stories of band practice, football games, pep rallies, homecoming festivities, and college admissions conversations—highlights a clear divide between what could be and what is for the town’s youth.

Late in the film, a student named Na’Kerria Nelson says “Every time something is good, don’t get too happy.” After campaigning diligently to be Miss PHS at Pahokee High School, she ultimately wins the runner-up spot. This is a devastating loss for her because, in Pahokee, traditions like Miss PHS mean everything. Beyond the prideful, elegant, and publicly beloved rituals offered by her high school experience, Na’Kerria’s life will likely become much smaller.

Football scholarships and military recruitment are framed as some of the best options kids in Pahokee have to change their futures. These are gateways to a college education and therefore an entirely different list of options. After a scene in which the high school’s football championship is taken away on a technicality (a student being too old to play), a montage of burning sugar cane fields plays in tandem with a radio interview about why the newly celebrated win has been declared invalid. The citizens of Pahokee are devastated by this tremendous blow to their morale and sense of identity. Seeing this moment of joy snatched away reinforces just how much certain victories can mean depending on one’s circumstances. 

In a particularly heartbreaking sequence, a student named Jocabed Martinez cries while saying what getting into a good college means for her. It is the only way she can relieve her parents of 12-hour workdays and ongoing health issues. She feels immense pressure to change things for her entire family and to fulfill the dreams they had when they came to Pahokee from Mexico. Jocabed is hardworking, passionate, and trying her best to bring as much joy as she can into the lives of the people she loves. The film effectively captures this drive to nurture hope and kindness as a unifying element of this multifaceted place.

The students we meet throughout the documentary feel proud of where they come from. They bring joy and enthusiasm to every aspect of their lives in Pahokee, especially their celebrations and arenas of creative expression. There are several scenes of parades, performances, prom dress photoshoots, dance parties, and laughter that focus on the faces of the people populating the frame. The film is often at its most powerful when the presence of the filmmakers is least felt. Their technical decision to simply let many sequences breathe and develop organically makes for a stunningly intimate experience.

AFS Cinema has made this film available to screen virtually. A portion of the proceeds from all virtual screenings will go toward future AFS programming and reopening the theater when the guidance of public health officials indicates it is safe to do so. Thank you for your support.