Becoming

The important part about Becoming is not necessarily the facts you learn about Michelle Obama, but seeing her in action. She meets up with students from schools across the country to talk to them and motivate them to become the leaders of tomorrow. She meets with a church book club. An older woman in the group states how thankful she is that she saw Barack Obama get inaugurated because her parents never got to see a black man become president, but she did. Michelle Obama is still using her platform to help people and give people hope, which is what this country very desperately needs right now.

“…pulls out all the finer points of the book tour, including an appearance from Barack himself…”

You can’t watch Becoming and not expect politics. However, it has more of a personal focus on how Michelle handled being the first lady, which included terrible things being said about her in the media and her inability to act like a normal person in response to that commentary. She had to choose to go high when they went low, which she admits is hard to do, try though she might.

Director Nadia Hallgren pulls out all the finer points of the book tour, including an appearance from Barack himself, as well as some screentime with Sasha and Malia. We see how much work goes into constantly facing the public, as well as what it means to try to find a place for yourself after being in the public eye for so long. Michelle Obama took the opportunities she had with her very public life to do good things for the people of this country. She cares about the country and even now believes that as Americans, we are mostly good people. Knowing that she feels this way gives me some hope that maybe she’s right. If you loved the Obamas or even if you didn’t, Becoming shows Michelle’s side of the story and offers up an understanding that many of us might not have had while she was the first lady.