The documentary follows the students in their day-to-day lives at the boarding school, as they each prepare for the recital. The boys receive a special coin upon successfully reciting the speech. Burns used various students from the school to narrate historical background throughout the film.
Reviews
Brian Lowry of Variety said, "[I]t surely must have felt like something of a respite to play small ball for a while with "The Address," profiling a school for teenage boys with learning disabilities in Vermont, and the children for whom memorizing and reciting the Gettysburg Address is a rite of passage. Despite its relative lack of heft, the project is reasonably effective in providing a window into these kids' worlds, however narrow the aperture might be."[1]