Hillary

Excellent, excruciating. ... Documentarian Nanette Burstein (The Kid Stays in the Picture, the incredible On the Ropes) deftly interweaves historical background, intimate behind-the-scenes campaign footage, and great hindsight interviews from her campaign staff. But the core of the series is Burstein’s fresh sit-down with Hillary herself, who emerges in both conversation and candid footage as someone who’s looser and warmer than even her fans might suspect.

Hillary is about Hillary Clinton, yes. But it’s also a recap of how America has viewed feminism and women seeking power during the late-20th and early-21st centuries. That makes it essential viewing. ... You might not agree with her. But after watching Hillary, you may be able to do something that America has had a really hard time doing over the years: You may understand her.

Love her or hate her, one thing we can agree on is that she’s essential to telling the story of world politics in the last half-century. And “Hillary” is the most accomplished version of her story so far.

This is not a project that just uses old news footage and sit-down interviews to fashion a portrait of a notable figure. There is never-before-seen history here and it is as joyous as it is painful.

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.

Proves clear-eyed and absorbing enough that we could probably have handled double what we get.

Hillary gives viewers the chance to go beyond soundbites and stereotypes, if they dare.

A rather sleek and highly watchable version of the joys and anguish of being Hillary Rodham Clinton, culminating in her electoral loss to Donald Trump. What emerges is an artfully structured personal history of modern feminism, told in the context of a country and a culture still grappling with a daunting degree of gender bias. ... Burstein is not here simply to commiserate or adulate, though the film necessarily serves measures of both. She thoughtfully and concisely weaves the backstage campaign efforts with Clinton’s biography.

Perhaps foremost, "Hillary" provides insight into the private woman in a way that the abundant coverage through the years, good or bad, seldom has in cracking that shell.

There are very few facts in "Hillary" that other documentaries, whether solid or entirely unreliable, haven't covered in some fashion. But what Burstein offers that previous works don't is an emotional journey through Clinton's life in her words and those of her family and friends, some 45 of them (including Barack Obama, her main Democratic rival in the 2008 election) and not all of them entirely without criticism.

Expect outrage from her right-wing detractors and cheers from her fans when this persuasive and brisk four-hour series by documentarian Nanette Burstein debuts.

As a piece of documentary filmmaking, "Hillary" is excellent, seamlessly weaving interviews with new and archival footage into a riveting life story. ... TThere is no victory at the end of "Hillary." We were all there: She lost in 2016. Narratively that means the documentary has a weaker ending.

It’s remarkably in-depth and at times revelatory, but a couple of missteps keep it from being truly insightful.

At its best, it puts its subject in the context of not just one consequential election night but decades of slow-changing cultural history. ... The later hours of “Hillary” are less revealing. In part, it’s the much-told material. ... “Hillary” is unlikely to settle any arguments about that woman. But it offers an interesting history of those years.

She's got a legacy to protect. That wariness makes Hillary more fascinating as a study of a projection screen against which a three-decade culture war has been playing out than that of an individual.

It’s a decent attempt at capturing the background that formed the backbone, a life of engagement, activism, “problem solving” and ambition and that makes “Hillary” worth your while. I don’t, however, recommend going at it in one fell swoop.

It’s not exactly a hagiography, but there is no grit in the oyster.

There are few voices included who are critical of its subject. “Hillary” is a generally flattering portrait, which makes it less grueling to watch than cacophonous cable news shows, but also muffles its impact.

The problem isn’t that she comes off as disingenuous so much as that people who follow politics (and in 2020, good luck avoiding them) have heard almost all of this before.