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The Final Year

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The Final Year
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGreg Barker
Produced byJohn Battsek
Diane Becker
Alice Bristow
Christopher Buchanan
StarringBarack Obama
John Kerry
Samantha Power
Ben Rhodes
Susan Rice
CinematographyMartina Radwan
Erich Roland
Edited byJoshua Altman
Langdon Page
Music byPhilip Sheppard
Distributed byHBO
Magnolia Pictures
Release dates
  • September 8, 2017 (2017-09-08) (TIFF)
  • January 19, 2018 (2018-01-19)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$262,286[1]

The Final Year is a 2017 American documentary film directed by Greg Barker. The film is a chronicle of the Barack Obama administration's foreign policy team and the events of Obama's final year in office.[2] While President Obama features at certain points, the documentary crew mainly followed the activities of Secretary of State John Kerry, UN Ambassador Samantha Power, National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes. Although the documentary does not feature Donald Trump, the emphasis among the main players switches as the final year progresses from enacting a foreign policy legacy to taking measures to protect that legacy from being dismantled by the incoming administration.

The film premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.[3] It was given a limited release on January 19, 2018.[4]

Reception

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of 105 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "The Final Year uses director Greg Barker's wide-ranging access to take a detailed inside look at the closing months of the Obama administration."[5]

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 67 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[6]

Scott Tobias of Variety wrote that "there's a promotional quality to the documentary that flattens out the political drama."[2]

Oktay Ege Kozak of Paste wrote, "The truly terrifying part of The Final Year, at least as it relates to the current administration, is how concisely and effectively Barker captures the day-to-day mania of a White House that actually has its affairs in order."[7]

References

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  1. ^ "The Final Year". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
  2. ^ a b Tobias, Scott (September 9, 2017). "Film Review: 'The Final Year'". Variety. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  3. ^ Fear, David (August 31, 2017). "Toronto Film Festival 2017: 30 Movies We Can't Wait to See". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
  4. ^ Lang, Brent (October 18, 2017). "Magnolia Nabs Worldwide Rights to Obama Documentary 'The Final Year' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
  5. ^ "The Final Year". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved January 29, 2026. Edit this at Wikidata
  6. ^ "The Final Year". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
  7. ^ Ege Kozak, Oktay (January 19, 2018). "The Final Year". Paste. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
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