Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union (2021)

HBO documentary Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union chronicles the personal and political journey of President Barack Obama as America grapples with its racial history. 

Directed by seven-time Emmy winner Peter Kunhardt and executive produced by The New Yorker’s Jelani Cobb, the three-part docuseries has a 91% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with RogerEbert.com calling it “a comprehensive and compelling analysis… Kunhardt’s film brightly illuminates how essential the discussion of Obama’s handling of race is to American culture as a whole, especially when it was no accident that every president before him was a white man.”

Weaving together conversations with colleagues, friends, and critics, and interspersed with his own speeches and news interviews, the series, timed to coincide with the former president’s 60th birthday, sets out to encapsulate both the man and the public figure against the backdrop of America under its first Black president. The documentary highlights the vision he had for the nation and reflects on the Obama administration with new understanding about the personal obstacles he faced and the challenging pursuit for equality in America.