The Mask You Live In

The Mask You Live In (2015) is a documentary you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Across 88 minutes it follows American boys who learn early to hide what they feel behind a hard "be a man" front — and counts the cost of that lesson.

The film hands the microphone to researchers, coaches, former inmates and teenagers themselves. Sociologist Michael Kimmel, educator Tony Porter and psychologist Philip Zimbardo pick apart three words that shape millions of boys: don't cry, don't lose, don't show weakness. Then come the numbers. In the United States, boys are more likely to drop out, binge drink, turn to violence, and take their own lives.

There are no tidy answers here. Newsom would rather ask a blunt question: where is society letting its sons down? The movie lands hardest when it simply lets the boys talk, unscripted and unguarded. A pointed watch for parents, teachers and anyone who cares how the next generation of men grows up. Stream The Mask You Live In (2015) online on iFILM.