“Running With Beto” essentially does in feature-film form what O’Rourke himself did in his embrace of social media throughout the campaign, when he would live stream the seemingly mundane events of his daily life. The first images we see are of him piling into the SUV with his wife, Amy, and their three kids, adjusting the smartphone on his dashboard to make sure he’s getting the shot right. Here he is putting gas in his car. There he is getting a haircut. His authenticity is also a huge part of his appeal—along with the fact that he freely drops F-bombs in conversation and says things like: “Cool, it’s gonna be fun.” He is one of us—or at least, he’s what we aspire to be and be near, with his boundless enthusiasm and a brand of hope reminiscent of Obama and JFK.

But there’s an inescapable undercurrent to director David Modigliani’s film. It’s not the fact that O’Rourke lost in 2018, which we know at the outset. It’s that it’s impossible to watch it without viewing it through the prism of current presidential politics, where O’Rourke is among about two-dozen Democrats vying to run against President Donald Trump in 2020. He entered the field with a big splash and great expectations, but has faltered somewhat as more probable contenders have joined the race. Of course, we’re a long ways away and a lot can change between now and Election Night, but you still get the feeling that “Running With Beto” functions somewhat as a time capsule at a time when political fortunes can change at the speed of light.

Still, Modigliani effectively conveys what it is about O’Rourke that made him so exciting in the first place, especially through the eyes of the handful of volunteers and activists whose efforts he also follows. They include a lesbian Latina who engages in polite but firm debate with her conservative stepfather and a group of teenagers from Santa Fe, Texas, whose high school was the site of a massive, deadly shooting in May 2018. We see the candidate listening intensely to their concerns about gun control and taking notes, and his sincerity and empathy are palpable.