Hillary (film)
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''Hillary'' is a 2020 American
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
about
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
directed by
Nanette Burstein Nanette Burstein (born May 23, 1970) is an American film and television director. Burstein has produced, directed, and co-directed several documentaries including the Academy Award nominated and Sundance Special Jury Prize winning film ''On the R ...
. It had its premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, and was selected to be shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival. The film received overall positive reviews from critics, who praised it for its exploration of Clinton's life.


Episodes


Production

In late 2017, Washington power broker Robert Barnett contacted producer
Howard T. Owens Howard Thomas Owens is an American media executive who is founder and Co-CEO of Propagate Content. Early life Born to Howard T. Owens Jr., an American politician, lawyer, and judge. Before launching his media career, Owens was an attorney in p ...
with an offer to produce and sell a documentary about Barnett's long-time client
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
, who had 2,000 hours of footage of her 2016 presidential campaign. Owens accepted the offer, and selected
Nanette Burstein Nanette Burstein (born May 23, 1970) is an American film and television director. Burstein has produced, directed, and co-directed several documentaries including the Academy Award nominated and Sundance Special Jury Prize winning film ''On the R ...
as his top choice to direct the film. In February 2018, Burstein became Clinton's top choice for the film as well. Burstein was given complete editorial control over the film. She stated that she attempted to interview multiple conservatives for the film, including
Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U ...
, but most (except for
Bill Frist William Harrison Frist (born February 22, 1952) is an American physician, businessman, and politician who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1995 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as Senate Majority Lea ...
) refused.


Release

The film was aired as a four-part documentary series on
Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
on March 6, 2020. The international distribution rights was backed by
SonyLIV SonyLIV is an Indian Over-the-top media services, over-the-top freemium Streaming media, streaming platform owned by Culver Max Entertainment. SonyLIV was introduced in 2013 as the first Over-the-top media service, OTT service in India. As a s ...
.


Reception

The film received positive reviews from critics. On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 80% based on 55 reviews, with an average rating of 7.76/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "''Hillary'' faces the impossible task of consolidating a full life into four hours -- still, it serves as an insightful, often powerful exploration of Hillary Clinton's life and legacy." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has an aggregated score of 75 out of 100 based on 21 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Writing for '' RogerEbert.com'', Brian Tallerico gave the film a score of 3.5 stars out of 4, describing it as "a razor-sharp piece of filmmaking, a movie that doesn't just hit the chronological beats of Clinton's life but places them in context of how they impacted the
campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...
and election of 2016" and as "incredible documentary filmmaking no matter your party affiliation, a must-see TV event." He concluded that the film "isn't really designed to win over the detractors of Hillary Clinton as much as offer her fans and the maybe a dozen or so people in the world with no opinion about her a complete look at an important political figure in U.S. history."
Dorothy Rabinowitz Dorothy Rabinowitz is a Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist and commentator. She was born in New York City, and attained a bachelor's degree at Queens College. She worked toward a doctorate at New York University from 1957 to 1960, but di ...
of ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' wrote that the film "would merit honors for the remarkable frankness of this four-part chronicle of Hillary Clinton‘s life, career and marriage—a buoyant history, its gut-wrenching aspects notwithstanding" and described it as being "never less than mesmerizing". Writing for ''
IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
'', Ben Travers gave the film a grade of B+, saying that the film "sets up a divisive read of a divisive figure", and adding: "At its best, "Hillary" isn't just a defense of Hillary Clinton, but a nuanced examination of why we don't yet have a female president." He concluded: "There's simply no way any story ... could encompass everything that Clinton has gone through. Instead, "Hillary" informs in order to pester, asking its audience: "What's your plan for tomorrow? Are you a fighter, or will you cower?" And after revisiting everything Hillary Clinton has done, you too will want to take back the power." Lidija Haas of ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'' wrote that the film "serves as a sort of Rorschach blot, in which you'll probably see confirmation of whatever theory about her and the 2016 election you espouse", and added: "Often, the film shares Clinton's own trouble distinguishing between baseless prejudice and substantive critique." She concluded: "What you're seeing isn't Clinton's personal legacy. It's the end of the choke hold that her worldview, so expertly presented here, once had over the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
." Judy Berman of ''Time'' magazine wrote: "The problem isn't that she comes off as disingenuous so much as that people who follow politics ... have heard almost all of this before: Wellesley,
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
,
Whitewater Whitewater forms in a rapid context, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and ...
, Hillarycare, " women's rights are human rights," Monica, Senate,
Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
,
Benghazi Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη (''Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghazi ...
,
Trump Trump most commonly refers to: * Donald Trump (born 1946), 45th president of the United States (2017–2021) * Trump (card games), any playing card given an ad-hoc high rank Trump may also refer to: Businesses and organizations * Donald J. T ...
", and concluded: "As it happens, I don't need Hillary Clinton to go away. I just wish she'd tell us something we don't already know." Kyle Smith of ''
National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
'' was critical of the film in his review, writing that it "simply ignores the most sordid and embarrassing aspects of Hillary's life:
Juanita Broaddrick Juanita Broaddrick is an American former nursing home administrator. She alleged that she was raped by U.S. President Bill Clinton on April 25, 1978, when he (aged 32) was the Attorney General of Arkansas. Clinton's attorney, David E. Kendall, ...
, the $100,000 gain Clinton supposedly made in " cattle futures trading," ''
It Takes a Village ''It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us'' is a book published in 1996 by First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton. In it, Clinton presents her vision for the children of America. She focuses on the impact individu ...
''", and described it as "an episode in its subject's never-ending project to convince the public that we were all wrong about her in every particular and that she therefore should be president."


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hillary 2020 films 2020 documentary films American documentary films Films directed by Nanette Burstein Works about Hillary Clinton 2020s English-language films 2020s American films