“On the Trail,” a CNN documentary, captures the lives of multiple women, both CNN reporters and embeds, during the 2020 presidential campaign. These women are Daniella Diaz, Annie Grayer and Jasmine Wright, the embeds, and Kaitlan Collins, Jessica Dean, Kyung Lah, MJ Lee, Abby Phillip and Arlette Saenz, all who are political correspondents for CNN.
The documentary starts a couple of days before the Iowa caucuses begin and takes a deeper look at how women work in these political environments, all the while capturing and following the lives of democratic candidates such as: Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttiege, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sander. It also follows Donald Trump on his campaign trail as he holds rallies in multiple states.
This documentary is good at getting a woman’s perspective into the world of politics, journalism and racial tensions. It shows the ins and outs of what being an embed entails. Embeds are journalists who follow a specific candidate through their presidential campaign journey. They are with them 24/7, following them from state to state and getting all the knowledge they can on their designated candidate in order for CNN to cover them.
I would rate this documentary a 9/10. It is insightful and current. The way it is filmed gives you an opportunity to see these reporters in a more personal light than they appear on air. If you are interested in going into politics, journalism or are simply interested in political campaigns, this is a great documentary to watch!