Merkel

With a chancellorship traversing four US presidents, a major refugee crisis and a troubled relationship between Germany and Russia, Angela Merkel consistently held her own on the world stage as one of the longest-serving German chancellors ever. Merkel looks back, both on her work and on the early years that shaped her.

Following an oppressive childhood behind the Berlin Wall, living in constant fear of the Stasi, Merkel embraced physics with great success. This background gave her a unique palette of knowledge and experience, which proved invaluable after she exchanged science for politics. From 2005 she grew to become a resolute chancellor and an anchor for Europe. As a woman in a bastion of masculinity, she understood how to deal with alpha males in politics. Meanwhile, her opponents consistently underestimated her.

Merkel’s strength is endorsed in this documentary by politicians such as Tony Blair and Hillary Clinton, and by journalists who followed her career closely. We also regularly hear her own voice in past interviews, showing her to be not only a tenacious diplomat, but also a candid communicator with a sense of humor.