'Becoming' was the documentary that I needed to watch.

Michelle Obama's Netflix documentary,  Becoming came out a few days ago and I watched it with my mum on Sunday (fitting for Mother's Day if you ask me, even though Mother's Day in Lagos was a few weeks ago but I digress). Becoming follows Michelle while she was on a book tour following the release of her memoir of the same name. It also features footage of Michelle's time as First Lady of the United States.

One thing I love about Documentaries is that they show the subject in a different light and allows them to open up more than we usually see, and you get that here. Now full disclosure I haven't read Becoming yet (My mum has been holding onto it since I got it for her but now that we're home, I'll read it) but from what I know about it, this documentary captures the essence of the book and Michelle Obama. While she is the women we saw on our TV screens, she's so much more than that. A lot of people see Micelle Obama as Barack Obama's wife but there is so much more to her that you see in this documentary. You learn about her childhood, her family, her journey as a mother and her time in the White House and how it affected her, and none of it seems forced. She always comes across authentic but outside the lens of the White House she seems more, herself and it's reflected in the way she dresses. You see her emotional side, her playful side, her curious side. Everything about her in this documentary seems more vulnerable, more her.

She talks about the way she stopped making candid speeches during her husband's 2008 campaign as every word and action was misconstrued and over analyses and while the documentary doesn't go into a huge amount of detail on it, you can see how she really feels about it. Something that she couldn't address while she was FLOTUS.

Michelle Obama in Becoming

There are so many inspiring things to take away from Becoming from lessons about being yourself to how to look at others. One quote, in particular, stood out to me. 

"If we can open up a little bit more to each other and share our stories, that's what breaks down barriers."

Throughout the documentary you see her talk to young people about their experiences and their stories and you even follow some of them for a few minutes. It never feels like it's something that is done for the cameras, they clearly have a story to tell and they are given time and a platform to tell it. Michelle and the filmmakers are willing to have open discussions and learn about how people feel and live their lives and the hardships they face. 

This documentary isn't just about her past it's about Michelle Obama's future. Some asked her how she would go back to her old life and she said, she wouldn't go back to her old life and that it was all about a new path. It's about the woman she is Becoming (get it? I'll see myself out) but not just her, with a tagline like "your story is your power", it's about all of us and the people we are becoming. And that is the kind of optimism that I (and a lot of people need right now)