PRIME MINISTER – Review by Leslie Combemale
Is watching a leader that is the diametrically opposite of Donald Trump going to bring you despair, or optimism, or both? That’s the question that will likely pop up for viewers of the documentary Prime Minister, from co-directors Lindsay Utz and Michelle Walshe. The film chronicles former New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern’s professional and personal experiences in her five years as head of government, years that included the birth of her first child, a mass shooting, and a worldwide pandemic, and proved enormously challenging.
The film shows Ardern was at first reluctant to take on this highest of leadership roles, but, as she said, “I have a battle with two sides of myself: the one that says you can’t, and the one that says you have to.” It’s clear from the very beginning that she’s not in politics for the adulation or fame or power. She is in it out of a strong desire to make change, and an awareness that she can be part of making that change happen.
Pulled together from newer interviews with Ardern and archival footage from her early days in office, and home movies taken by her life partner Clarke Gayford, it feels like as an audience, we have completely unfettered access to her best and worst times. This includes Ardern’s challenges with breastfeeding, an element to her story unlikely to have been included had the documentarians been men.
The differences between Ardern and Trump, in fact, the US government and population in general, are striking. The US has not been able to elect multiple female candidates as president. It’s impossible to imagine its puritanical and extremely divided population even allowing an unmarried 37 year old woman (which Ardern was at the beginning of her tenure) to run. Thousands of victims of gun violence and nearly daily school or public shootings are not enough to inspire action in the US. As Prime Minister shows, however, it only took one tragedy to get Ardern and the New Zealand government to ban assault weapons. While Trump and his allies declared COVID a hoax, leading to thousands of deaths, Ardern closed to borders to New Zealand, leading to an eradication of the disease country-wide. New Zealanders were out in force, supporting businesses and sharing community while Americans were still dying in droves. Trump spearheaded the overturn of Roe v Wade, making abortions dangerous again, while Ardern spearheaded updating abortion laws across New Zealand, speaking for women that it “gave us our dignity back.”
That’s not to say that she didn’t have her share of detractors and protesters. There was certainly a vocal minority that believed she had no right to shut down the country. That’s easy to say, but as of 2025 the entire country has had only 3944 deaths from COVID. Who knows how many would have died without her swift, decisive action?
Although it would not have been possible without the support of Ardern and Gayford’s support, Utz and Walshe take all that public and private life footage and create a great balance that speaks to who Ardern was and is, and why her time as PM will not soon be forgotten. Prime Minister won the Audience Award for World Cinema at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, so hopefully that speaks to the idea that Ardern’s life is an inspiration that other countries can have young, fearless, progressive leaders that can represent the majority rather than self-interest, and make lasting change.
4 out of 5 stars.
