South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival – In the early 90s, Drag Queen Joan Jett Blakk started her political career. Ms. Blakk is the drag persona of Terence Alan Smith, an African American actor, writer, and begrudging but inspired political candidate. The Beauty President highlights Blakk’s run for presidential candidacy in 1992. The Beauty President reflects back on a controversial and trying time in our history, at the height of the AIDS crisis.

A simple interview setup with interstitials of historical footage and imagery from the campaign trail, The Beauty President feels like an intimate conversation with an old friend. Candidly charming, Smith laughs and smiles through the tense moments of painful history – losing friends to the virus, the political unrest of the time, and his deep reasons for fighting against the system. Intricately tied issues of race and sexuality and the American healthcare system drove Smith to his political path, and his reasons and his platforms stand solid today. In fact, I found myself wishing someone like Smith (or Smith himself) would run for public office now. In spite of 30 years of time in between, the problems faced then and now are remarkably similar.

It’s amazing to think that at a politically rife time like 1992, a drag queen could even attempt to run for president. And while the documentary doesn’t gloss over this – and includes interviews and clips of Smith/Blakk not being welcomed in political spaces – in some weird ways it almost seems like it was a non-issue. Smith’s politics were what we were afraid of – swapping the military and education budgets, socializing medicine, and so on. And really, isn’t that exactly the same thing people worry about now? It doesn’t matter how young, old, beautiful, or ugly the package is — and Ms. Blakk is gorgeous and lovable. What matters is that we, as a nation, are not ready to progress. Truly shameful, and truly sad.

The Beauty President reviewed as part of our South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival coverage.

7 out of 10