There's a sadness that permeates throughout all four parts of Hillary, Hulu's all-encompassing and fascinating look at the life and political career of Hillary Clinton, the former first lady and Democratic nominee for president of the United States.
This feeling of melancholy isn't just because the series builds up to her shocking defeat to Donald Trump in the 2016 election, which Clinton and her campaign team are clearly still reeling from. It's also because director Nanette Burstein does an expert job of detailing the many, many ways that Clinton has either been held back or deeply misunderstood over the years.
Over the course of Hillary's 252-minute running time, which is divided so each episode is just over one hour long, Burstein seamlessly mixes scenes showing Clinton becoming the first woman to be nominated for president and her pursuit to topple Trump with an extensive look back at the seismic hurdles that she has had to overcome since the 1960s.
Come the end of Hillary, you can't help but be impressed by Clinton, her resolve, and the manner in which she broke through so many glass ceilings, while also feeling as though so much more has to change in order to achieve genuine equality, especially when you consider who defeated her to become the 45th commander-in-chief.
But while Hillary is captivating, entertaining and genuinely informative, it just falls short of greatness. Not only does it feel too sympathetic and one-sided to its subject, but it also fails to really break through Clinton's tough exterior or make any sort of stunning revelation about how she ticks.
To be fair to Burstein, she clearly tries to do just that, as the documentary is constantly analysing and looking for the reasons why Clinton has proven to be so polarising. Burstein even dives into this examination with her very first question of the documentary, when she asks Clinton straight out if she ever gets frustrated that people still say they don’t know her and that she seems inauthentic, even though she has spent more than 30 years in the public eye.
"I do," admits Clinton, with a candidness that is evident throughout Hillary. "What is this about? When people say I'm inauthentic, what you see is what you get. I'm sorry if I'm not brilliantly charismatic on TV. But I am the same person I've always been. Going through this gauntlet of unbelievable obstacles, yeah, you get scarred up a little bit."
Yet, while Clinton is undoubtedly candid and reflective about her mistakes, she still keeps a wall up between herself and the audience that means she remains an enigma. She does make various attempts to be critical, humorous and even emotional, but they never quite transmit through the screen. Burstein and the team behind Hillary play with this disconnect, though, as they show how Clinton was forced to constantly evolve over the decades to at first become and then stay politically relevant.
Clinton's vast and incredible history as a political force is often overlooked in favour of her husband's achievements, which makes Hillary's depiction of her efforts all the more eye-opening. As a student at Wellesley College in the late 1960s she defiantly fought for civil rights and feminist issues, all while taking on the rampant misogyny that was once inherent in these institutions. Efforts that are shown to be so radical it only seems apt that Take Back the Power by ska-punk band The Interrupters is used as Hillary's theme song.
One of the most outstanding sequences of Hillary is the depiction of her impromptu commencement speech at Wellesley, which was a rebuttal to Republican senator Edward Brooke's controversial commencement comments just moments before, and proved to be so impactful that she was featured in a Life magazine article and various other media outlets across the country.
It becomes obvious that Clinton had one of the most impressive political minds of her generation. So you can't help but feel frustrated when, after meeting Bill Clinton in 1971 at Yale Law School, we see Hillary spend the next three decades supporting his political pursuits, while her own vast achievements, first as a lawyer, then as irst lady, are often relegated to the background.
The use of Bill Clinton in Hillary is one of the most complex aspects of the entire documentary. Their romance is shown to be sincere and genuinely sweet at times, while he was clearly nothing but supportive and helpful in her endeavours.
But Bill’s various scandals and marital affairs, with his contrition over his relationship with Monica Lewinsky another highlight of the series, are shown to have far-reaching repercussions, especially when it comes to making her seem unsympathetic, unreliable and, even, unelectable. Even in a documentary solely about her, he can’t help but steal some of the limelight.
Which merely highlights the inequality that Hillary Clinton had to overcome, and proves that this comprehensive look at one of the most influential American politicians of the last 50 years is as much a tragedy as it is a documentary.
'Hillary' premieres on Hulu on Friday, March 6
