Michelle Obama is a popular figure in America. Many want her to run for office.
While she’s declined any personal political aspirations, she is spreading a message of hope in her best-selling memoir “Becoming,” which is also the name of the 90-minute Netflix documentary, debuting May 6, that chronicled her 34-city book tour.
In 2018, Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground production company signed a first-look deal with Netflix. Two documentaries have aired on the streamer to date: the Oscar-winning “American Factory” and “Crip Camp.”
“Becoming” will check the box for fans that want to see more of Michelle Obama.
It includes moving footage of tour conversations, as well as images of the former First Lady before, during and after her White House years. Moderated by celebrity hosts, such as Stephen Colbert, Reese Witherspoon and Oprah Winfrey, “Becoming” shares places of significance to her and what it was like growing up in working-class Chicago.
Obama credits her early years, rather than her Washington tenure, for shaping the person she is. “Becoming” allows her, in her own words, to be “unplugged.”
The Hollywood Reporter notes that “where she truly shines is in the smaller conversations with young people, usually young women and young women of color; her ability to connect in those settings is remarkable.”
The documentary is directed by Nadia Hallgren, the DP for “Trouble the Water” and “Girl Rising.”
Another First Lady, Hillary Clinton, is also the subject of a documentary. However, “Hillary,” now on Hulu, is far more political in nature.