By Justin Capera
The Hulu original documentary series “Hillary” premiered on March 6, 2020, and it is already the most terrifying, groundbreaking, eye-rolling, and political bluff piece made in a while. The four-part series centers around different times in the life of Hillary Rodham Clinton. The series is sometimes very linear, but it mostly tells the story of Clinton’s life in many different points—before and during her career—that matters most to her character. Many figures in Clinton’s life show up to talk about her such as her peers, her daughter Chelsea, her husband Bill Clinton, and former President Barack Obama.
The series delves deep into Hillary Rodham Clinton as more than just a political figure. The series reminds you that she is just a person; a person who has feelings and someone who has paved the way for many women in politics. The series caters to both lovers and haters of Hillary Rodham Clinton as it shows every side of her. Clinton was the first woman to be the Democratic nominee for president and made it very far, but she is also the woman who has been accused of murder on multiple occasions, and all of those monumental moments are shown here in the series.
Now, you cannot talk about Clinton without mentioning the infamous impeachment scandal of Bill Clinton. The entire third episode of this series is dedicated to that part of her life and it was very touching. This woman has been embarrassed and humiliated in front of the entire country by her husband, but she remained strong by staying by his side. Staying with her husband after the scandal is one of the many things she has been widely criticized for, even years after the scandal occurred; everyone has an opinion about the situation.
The series really goes deep into how hurt Clinton was during the entire impeachment scandal. These scenes are important, but it does a great job of humanizing Clinton, who for many years has been dehumanized by society. To see someone who has been criticized for not being emotional enough actually shows emotion, made for great television.
However, there are flaws in this series. The constant explaining of her life by Bill Clinton grows old. Because of this, the Hillary documentary seems too much like the Clinton (2012) documentary on Bill Clinton. I came to hear from Hillary, not from her husband. With her husband being on screen talking about the affair which led to his impeachment trial, he actually cries, and it was fascinating to watch. What is disappointing is the failure of the series to mention the strange friendship between Bill Clinton and, now dead, the infamous pedophile, Jeffery Epstein—since that is something we all deserve an explanation about. Not once was this friendship brought up further fueling my distaste for the former president.
In Hillary, Clinton’s history-making 2016 run for President was brought up throughout the series where they even have backstage exclusive footage of Clinton during her campaign. What is very interesting to note is Donald Trump’s name is not mentioned by Clinton herself. Rather, she only spoke of him with distaste, of course, but not once does she mention his name.
The now very famous clip of Hillary Clinton insulting her once political rival Bernie Sanders is included in the series, which will offend the Bernie Sanders supporters. I mentioned she had nothing nice to say about Trump, nor does anyone else featured in the four-part series, but if you are a Trump supporter, you probably wouldn’t be watching this; so it is clear Hillary did not have you in mind.
The major takeaway from this series is that empathy is so important. Many people hate Clinton for reasons that are unfair. People discuss why she should not have stayed with her cheating husband, why she dresses the way she dresses, and of course, her emails. The emails are brought up in this series. I would prefer not to give anything away, but it is very clear that Hillary thought the entire scandal was ridiculous. It is very telling that we live in a country where a man can brag about straight-up sexual assault and get elected as the president, but a woman can’t use a private email server.
The series, once again, is only four episodes long with each episode running a little over an hour Hillary is now streaming only on Hulu.
