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We are ever more inclined to believe that no one in their right mind would want to be a politician — still less a national leader. A singular quality of former New Zealand premier Jacinda Ardern was that she not only believed it, she was unafraid to say it. US-made documentary Prime Minister offers a reasonably revealing intimate portrait of its charismatic, unfailingly lucid subject, as well as chronicling the achievements and horrific challenges of her time in office.
Her premiership began dazzlingly — an unexpected electoral success for New Zealand’s Labour party, and Ardern’s rare capacity to be relaxed and seemingly spontaneous under the spotlight. Pregnant in office, then raising daughter Neve — a consistent show-stealer here — Ardern wins hearts as much as she attracts misogynistic sniping.
Then comes her response to a horrifying crisis, the Christchurch mosque shootings of March 2019; she shows delicacy and compassion in her meetings with affected communities, and tightens national gun laws. When Covid begins to spread in 2020, she presides over a successful first lockdown but later faces volcanic rage from anti-vaccine protesters.
Prime Minister is a glossy production — lush score, sweeping landscapes — and it often feels like a retrospective campaign ad. But it does have the candour to show Ardern’s popularity unravel, as does (by her own admission) her state of mind; it’s hardly usual for a premier to open up about the physical and emotional toll of the job.
The film can be read as a record of glorious achievement, or — as seems inevitable with the careers of principled, optimistic statespeople — a tale of tragic failure. But, above all, Ardern is shown proving that it is possible to be a sensitive, compassionate, sane person and a politician; what’s shocking is that this should come across as an anomaly.
★★★☆☆
In UK cinemas from December 5 and on Max in the US now
