Good morning everyone. Before we get to the hoddle proper, I’d just like to share a brief quote from one Warren Zevon: “Enjoy every sandwich.”
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This is your the latest edition of Fitzie’s Film and TV Reviews, where your hoddler-in-chief reviews all things seen on the big and small screen.
Today’s entry is actually a favour for you all: I watched the Jose Mourinho documentary so you don’t have to.
For those wondering about any Tottenham connection, it is little. Mourinho’s time at the club is only reduced to a familiar clause (along the lines of I took Tottenham to a cup final but didn’t get to coach it) and two snapshots in a montage. Even Fenerbahce received more air time than that.
The three-part documentary is less about Jose Mourinho the man and more about Jose Mourinho the legend (as in the collection of stories accumulated during his career).
It’s filled with A-level stars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sir Alex Ferguson, Frank Lampard and others. And Mourinho is a gifted storyteller, which makes a documentary in theory the perfect arena for his to craft his story.
But because this is about Mourinho the legend, we learn remarkably little. In fact, the documentary focuses much of his time at two clubs: Inter and Chelsea. The stories are mostly repeats of what’s already been said. Perhaps the only new dimension was how his relationship with Roman Abramovich deteriorated, and how he framed this through the lens of who football belongs to (perhaps this explains his thoughts on Daniel Levy).
And while the documentary revisits a moment in which he lashed out over a former Chelsea team doctor (Eva Carneiro) for tending to Eden Hazard during a match, it appears to do little to seek out Carneiro’s side other than a quick snipped of her attending court and a subsequent news headline.
Mourinho makes clear in the third act he doesn’t want to share large parts of his life, which is fine. But if so, then why bother with this project at all? There are a few glimpses where some of these are revealed such as how he viewed his playing career in the context of being a football manager, as well as his relationship with his family, yet the documentary fails to dig deeper into these dynamics.
Perhaps that’s what makes Mourinho the manager he is. In the opening of the series we hear how the tunnel is the last time he thinks about his family before stepping onto the pitch. Perhaps this was the same exercise, where the personal elements that built up this legend were pushed aside for the same stories we’ve heard for years now.
The only difference is that these same stories were presented in a glossy Netflix doc, and makes me question what the point was in doing this at all.
2 out of 5 Fitzies
Fitzie’s track of the day (dedicated in loving memory to Richard): Wildflowers, by Tom Petty
And now for your links:
Jay Harris: “It is essential Spurs avoid another season of injury woe. This is how they are trying to do it”
Alasdair Gold: “The uncomfortable Guglielmo Vicario incident and what went wrong at Tottenham”
Yahoo Sports: “Eva Carneiro fires back at Jose Mourinho and John Terry after Netflix revisits Chelsea controversy”
BBC: “Fifa official sacked after Infantino plan criticism”
The Guardian: “Premier League to allow audio of conversations between players and referees”
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