The Light We Carry review: Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey exchange warm words and friendly banter on what feels like an episode of The Oprah Winfrey show

The 90-minute-long docuseries starring the former US First Lady and the talk show legend is based on the final night of Michelle’s six-city The Light We Carry tour

A still from The Light We Carry Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey

The Light We Carry: Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey

Story: On the final tour stop for her 2022 bestseller The Light We Carry, Michelle Obama unpacks her "toolbox" for navigating life during uncertain times. She opens up to her good friend Oprah Winfrey for a special event of hearty laughs, personal stories, hard-won wisdom, and practical advice.

Review: When two of the most powerful and revered women in the world, who are also good friends, get together, it is bound to be a treat for all those present. This is what one gets to witness in the new docuseries, The Light We Carry: Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey, in which the former US First Lady Michelle Obama and talk show legend Oprah Winfrey exchange personal stories and warm words, and reflect on the difficulties that the world collectively faced during the pandemic and what they faced as Black Americans. All while ensuring that the conversation is interesting, funny, and laced with candid moments from Michelle’s life that make for quality consumption.

Although the topic may be serious, it is delivered with Oprah’s trademark wit and Michelle’s unmissable charm.

The 90-minute-long docuseries is based on the final night of Michelle’s six-city The Light We Carry tour. For the uninitiated, the tour is the result of the former First Lady’s new book, the New York Times #1 best seller The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times. The book was a result of all the events that occurred in America during and a little after the COVID-19 pandemic imposed lockdowns.

Oprah, the moderator for the night, introduces Michelle as "our forever First Lady" before going to talk about everything that sparked the idea for the book while Michelle was "comfortable afraid" when the "world was shutting off" in early 2020.

The conversation between Michelle and Oprah is about many things that one may already know about Michelle, her husband, former US President Barack Obama, their relationship, their kids, and about Michelle’s parents, who were instrumental in her becoming the woman that she is today.

There are many touching moments from the former First Lady’s life that give you an insight into the strong and compassionate woman that she is and the impact that her family, especially her husband, and her community have had on her.

So, what can you expect to take away from the documentary? Oprah rightfully sums up the message of both the book and the series with these lines from the book: Nobody can make you feel bad about yourself if you feel good about yourself. And it's your job to do the work to make yourself feel good.

Verdict: While The Light We Carry: Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey won’t let you in on anything that you don’t already know — about Michelle and what was happening in the world at large and America in particular in 2020 — it is an interesting watch, simply because of the two women on whom the docuseries is centred.

Both Michelle and Oprah are powerful personalities who, thanks to their charm, make you delightfully feel like they are letting you in on a candid conversation between friends. If nothing else, you are likely to be encouraged to make small changes in your life that you can control, which, according to Michelle and Oprah, is more of a practical approach to making positive changes than wanting to change the world overnight.

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Cast and Crew

Oprah Winfrey

Michelle Obama

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