I A big thought occurred to me while watching Jamali Madix's Follow the Leader (Tuesday, September 17th at 10pm), the new four-part series from U&Dave that, unfortunately, is nowadays called: “Wait, when was the last time I watched Follow the Leader?” good “A documentary?” I asked, and it took me a little time to look back. When was it?
The problem, if you can call it that, started with Netflix maybe five years ago. They thought (with Fyre, Tiger King and my favourite, The Last Dance) that the key to a successful documentary was to add layers of gloss: beautifully lit 4K camera interviews with all involved, edit after edit, telling a four-part story in eight episodes. This works when, say, Joe Exotic is the central engine, but recent attempts to repeat the trick have produced wildly overblown, over-told stories. Add in our cultural obsession with true crime, what YouTube documentary makers are doing, and BBC Three trying to find out who… Anyone – As a replacement for Stacey Dooley, it feels like the genre finds itself in a strange position: Channel 4 keep putting out shows, but when was the last time they aired Dogging Tales?
Anyway, we're happy to announce that we're back. In Follow the Leader, Jamali Maddix travels to the US to spend time with vigilante pedophile hunters, learn about the Passport Bros in Colombia, understand the city's gang scene in Chicago, and meet a pastor known as “King Bullethead” in Pennsylvania. It's a fun, old-fashioned production, not littered with contrived settings, made by a one-car crew, and so often with its subjects saying unexpected things or doing strange things that are truly shocking that it feels fresh. Sometimes two cameras and one fascinating person is all you need. We overcomplicated it.
The wrong documentary would point to all these people and say, “You know what? Isn't that a little strange? But Follow the Leader always sticks to its guiding principles, and the hint is in the title. What strange charisma do these leaders have? What message do they preach that resonates with people and gives them a following? Who cares about pedophile hunters without fans (and equally, no haters; there's a great subplot in the first episode about two rival hunters hating each other?) American Crypto Bros going to Colombia to live the luxury life of a cheap sex tourist is nothing if they don't lure others in with promises of a better life. King Bullethead is nameless without a bullet. So why are these people so fascinating? And what's happening to the people they lure in?
It helps that Maddix is so good at this. He was great as a stand-up comedian as a cranky, funny contestant on the early Taskmasters, and perfectly cast as the head thug in Never Mind the Buzzcocks reruns. But here he knows when to push and when to pull. He has an intimate openness with all his subjects that gets them to do that thing that makes a good documentary great: let their guard down and talk. And, especially in the case of the Passport Bros, everyone is desperate to like him.
These stories are told by people, not hosts, and “Follow the Leader” doesn't forget that. But Maddix has a certain energy that just comes across. Scenes of people driving around are frequently punctuated by him casting sidelong glances from the passenger seat and gleefully asking awkward questions, and there's a great behind-the-scenes scene in Columbia where he and a cameraman speculate about one of their subjects' (very) in front of the camera.
The early-morning pedophile sting ends with him in the back of an eight-seater car, rubbing his eyes and lamenting how early the producer woke him up, feeling like he's hanging out with a cool friend who has a much crazier YouTube algorithm than him.
The point is, here's new information. I knew nothing about the Passport Bros, a sort of crypto- or Red Pill-like men's movement that involves going to developing countries where the dollar is strong, working on laptops, spending $250 a month, and bragging awkwardly at clubs. There's something unsettling about watching these men (as if Maddix had discovered an island of people who never progressed from 2005's The Game), but the real questions are: how do they find each other, what makes them do it, what are they looking for? Really“Guys join the Passportbro movement because they're looking for direction,” Maddix says, before showing the nervous newcomer buying a studded leather jacket, having street flirtations with uninterested locals, and then saying he really does want a wife.
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It's good to know these people exist and that I don't have to deal with them. The documentary is back!
