‘Becoming’ hits screen
Michelle Obama documentary should have warnings for Trump fans
The new Netflix documentary about former first lady Michelle Obama’s memoir may have some warnings for supporters of President Trump, says Republic film reviewer Bill Goodykoontz.
Movies and television shows come with guides giving potential audiences an idea of how much violence or sex or drugs or whatever they contain, so you can decide whether it’s something that might offend you or otherwise put you off. “Becoming,” the new Netflix documentary that follows former first lady Michelle Obama on the tour promoting her memoir of the same title, contains nothing offensive. Unless you’re a supporter of President Donald Trump, that is. If that’s the case — or if you’re still making the case that Barack Obama was born in Kenya or that Michelle Obama is a secret terrorist or whatever the going conspiracy theory was (or is) — there aren’t enough warnings in the world to prepare you for the film.
It’s not that Michelle Obama, or anyone else, trashes Trump or the MAGA crowd explicitly. Anything like that is couched in polite terms. It’s just that for some people the mere mention of the name “Obama” is an emotional trigger, eliciting a visceral reaction.
Actually that cuts both ways. We see many people getting copies of “Becoming” signed at events breaking down in tears just because they are in her presence.
That is not a surprise. The film is being released by Higher Ground Productions, the Obamas’ production company, which has a distribution deal with Netflix. (They won an Academy Award for the documentary “American Factory” earlier this year.) “Becoming” shows Obama in one light and one light only: flattering.
Warts and all it is not.
In that regard it’s nothing close to a definitive portrait of a fascinating figure. But it’s still a worthwhile look at how things were, not so long ago. Which forces us to reckon with where we’ve landed.
Director Nadia Hallgren followed Obama on the “Becoming” tour, including her stop in Phoenix. (We see only a brief meeting between Obama and young Native Americans, who talk about the way people treat them since Trump was elected.) We see lots of footage of the appearances, with hosts like Oprah Winfrey and Stephen Colbert, including the occasional telling of the same story in different venues.
Barack Obama makes a cameo appearance, but only that — this is a Michelle Obama movie, thank you sir.
The best parts are the bits between the appearances, like the Arizona meeting, and the biographical segments. Her high-school guidance counselor told Obama she wasn’t Princeton material. She went to Princeton.
But once there, one of her roommates moved out because her mother didn’t want her rooming with a black woman. That theme resonates throughout — accomplishment in the face of bigotry and adversity.
As for the Trump loyalists who carp about how the media coddled the Obamas, Hallgren includes a few clips that are like a punch in the gut. During the Democratic National Convention in 2008, Michelle and Barack Obama engaged in a fist bump. You know, something you might do with your 3-year-old nephew.
Cut to Fox News: “A fist bump, a pound, a terrorist fist jab? The gesture everyone seems to interpret differently.” No, not everyone.
We hear former Fox News star Bill O’Reilly saying, “Does Michelle Obama dislike America?”
This isn’t part of a jab at Fox News or at conservatives. It’s part of a segment in which Obama learned that speaking her mind on the campaign trail was simply not going to be allowed. She stopped speaking off the cuff at rallies.
“I was waking up to the truth of who we can be, so ready to think the worst of people,” she said. “That changes the shape of a person’s soul.”
As for Trump, about all Obama has to say is, “When you’re President of the United States, words matter. … There’s too much power to be that careless.”
Obama is so smart and insightful, even in response to the canned and near-sycophantic questions during the question-and-answer sessions on stage, that it makes you yearn for a real interview, a tougher documentary, one that trusts both Obama and the audience more. Certainly “Becoming” will please her supporters and tick off her detractors.
But not much more.