Sundance review: 'Hillary' is an absorbing documentary that goes past the preconceptions about Hillary Clinton

‘Hillary’

★★★1/2

Playing in the Special Events section of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Running time: 257 minutes.

Screens again: Sunday, Jan. 26, 12:30 p.m., Rose Wagner (Salt Lake City). Steams on Hulu in March.

——

What more can be said about Hillary Clinton — first lady, senator, secretary of state, presidential candidate and lightning rod for right-wing hate? Surprising, a lot, and Clinton and a lot of people who know her or reported on her do the talking in director Nanette Burstein’s comprehensive documentary series “Hillary.”

Burstein has a lot at her disposal in this four-episode series. She has behind-the-scenes footage taken by Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, from her launch announcement to her post-election concession speech. There is a wealth of archival footage and photos of Clinton’s childhood, and her days at Yale Law School, Arkansas, the White House, the Senate and the State Department.

Burstein interviewed a wide swath of people in Clinton’s circle: Childhood friends, Yale classmates, reporters who covered the Clintons, even her last boss: President Barack Obama. If there’s a weakness in the interviews, it’s a lack of current commentary from conservative voices — with only former Sen. Bill First speaking up. (Reportedly, a bunch of right-wingers declined invitations to be interviewed.)

Her husband, President Bill Clinton, gives one of the most heart-wrenching interviews, particularly when talking about his behavior in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. (Demerits to Bill for his less-than-apologetic comments about Lewinsky.)

The backbone of the series is Burstein’s interviews with Hillary Clinton herself, culled from 35 hours shot over seven days. There will be headlines made with her frank appraisal of Bernie Sanders (“Nobody likes him”) and her “bewilderment and confusion” about losing the 2016 election to Donald Trump. But what will resonate longer are her emotional comments about how Bill’s infidelity nearly ended their marriage, and her anger at the double standard of expectations applied to women candidates and not to men. (“Does anybody ask Bernie Sanders about his goddamn shoes?” she asks before a debate during the 2016 primaries.)

“Hillary” will be seen as biased, of course, by those who get their information from Fox News — part of that “vast right-ring conspiracy” she once decried (in an interview with, oops, Matt Lauer). But for anyone with an open mind, the series gives a fresh look at Clinton’s role not just in recent politics but the rise of feminism over the last half-century.