Becoming

NETFLIX

At one point during Becoming — the new documentary about the 34-city book tour of Michelle Obama’s book of the same name — the former First Lady says that the tour has been the first time in a while she has been unplugged and that it has been helpful in allowing her time for reflection. The irony is that all of this has been filmed by a camera crew following her on her tour. As much as Obama and the film try to show the audience that she is letting her guard down and she is at her most vulnerable (something she urges people to be more often) this safe and sterile documentary never quite convinces.

 Director Nadia Hallgren provides enough feel-good moments and reminiscences on the rosy-looking past to make this an enjoyable albeit shallow documentary. The vast majority of the film is comprised of various interview montages, and it is sadly lacking in footage that gets under Obama’s skin or inside her head. Largely a glamorization of the former First Lady, Obama herself is such a charismatic and intelligent speaker that it hardly matters. She does, however, constantly remind the audience that she is far more of an interesting person than the doc is enlightening. In one scene, during a book signing, a woman who is meeting Obama breaks down crying, saying, “This was unexpected!” Obama replies with a joke: “What’d you think was going to happen?” 

 That moment, and in fact, the whole signing scene, plays to the film’s strengths. It is at its best when Obama is meeting fellow citizens face-to-face or speaking in front of an entire stadium full of them. The looks of awe on her audience’s faces speak for themselves, and it’s evident that Obama is an excellent listener.

Unfortunately, much of the second half of the film gets bogged down in trying to cover too much ground without ever going into depth. The film is so far-ranging that it only features snippets on different topics such as Obama’s fashion designer. These segments pad out the film’s runtime to an unremarkable 89 minutes but don’t add up to anything meaningful. There were so many seemingly random bits that it’s a surprise the filmmakers didn’t throw in a section about former Vice President Joe Biden. 

While Becoming never goes that deep, it works on a superficial level as an enjoyable throwback to old times. Parts of the pleasant viewing experience include news footage of Barack Obama’s inauguration and Michelle Obama’s remarkably funny stories. The best-selling author also provides plenty of inspiration particularly towards the end of the film, when she tells her audience to focus on stories rather than statistics, and to have hope for the future.

This is a heart-warming and cosy documentary that works as a cheery, optimistic flashback, but never becomes as personal as one might hope. Everything in the film— which was produced by the Obamas’ production company Higher Ground Productions — feels sanitized or censored on some level to be as glossy as possible. For fans of Michelle Obama or for anyone who could live with a little bit more gloss in their lives, Becoming is highly watchable fare.