The Last Dance (2020)

Directed by: Jason Hehir | 498 minutes | documentary, biography | Starring: Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson, David Aldridge, Scottie Pippen, Steve Kerr, Michael Wilbon, Deloris Jordan, Andrea Kremer, John Paxson, Bill Wennington, BJ Armstrong, Bob Costas, Ahmad Rashad, Jerry Reinsdorf, Dennis Rodman, Sam Smith, David Stern, Rick Telander, Mark Vancil, JA Adande, Todd Boyd, Bill Cartwright, Horace Grant, Tim Grover, Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Larry Bird, Jud Buechler, Patrick Ewing, David Falk, George Koehler, Brian McIntyre, Barack Obama Will Perdue, Chip Schaefer, Jim Stack, Rod Thorn, Danny Ainge, Willow Bay, Doug Collins, Carmen Electra, Tim Hallam, Melissa Isaacson, Larry Jordan, Toni Kukoc, Reggie Miller, Joe O’Neil, Charles Oakley, Gary Payton , Pat Riley

Challenge Michael Jordan and it will pay off. The renowned basketball legend wanted to win every game and went to great lengths to do so. Even a simple game of ‘tossing a coin’ with his security people must and he will win. We see that in ‘The Last Dance’ (2020), the ten-part documentary series about Jordan and the unique performance he delivered with his team, the Chicago Bulls. In just ten years, the Bulls have won the prestigious championship in the NBA no fewer than six times. That one scene with that coin shows nicely how Jordan works. His tendency to turn everything into a game that he wants at all costs (he is known as an avid gambler for a reason), but also his willingness to push his opponent to the limit to achieve his goal (his ‘trash talks’ to other players are notorious). Even his own teammates sometimes suffered; If you don’t want to win as much as he does, the Bulls are no good for you, Jordan thought, and he didn’t hesitate to rub it in with his colleagues.

‘The Last Dance’ is a co-production of Netflix and the American sports channel ESPN. The common thread is the 1997-98 season, the last year Jordan played with the Bulls. The team’s managers have already indicated that after that season they will disband the team and build a new squad with fresh, young players. Success coach Phil Jackson is also thanked for services rendered. Jackson wants to shine once more with his championship ring-laden players; project ‘The Last Dance’ should ensure that a sixth NBA title is won. The assignment he gave his team: this is our last dance together, let’s enjoy it. A camera crew was allowed to shoot with Jordan and his men for a year. This unique visual material can be seen for the first time in the documentary series ‘The Last Dance’. Parallel to that final season, we get to see a chronological timeline of Jordan’s illustrious career: we see how he took his first steps in the NBA in the 1980s, after which it soon became clear that he would become a very big one. We see his star rise to unprecedented heights in the 1990s. With Olympic Gold with the original Dream team in Barcelona 1992, the hit feature film ‘Space Jam’ and several commercial mega deals (of which the one with Nike would become exemplary for successful sports marketing), Jordan far transcended his sport: he became a global icon. Chicago resident Barack Obama even calls him “one of the most influential ambassadors of American culture.”

Each episode opens up a storyline for one of Jordan’s key teammates: his trusty Lieutenant Scottie Pippen, who actually felt underpaid and undervalued by management for years; enfant terrible Dennis Rodman, who would rather wrestle with Hulk Hogan and party with Madonna and Carmen Elektra than show up on time for practice; Toni Kukoc, the Croatian star who was initially viewed with suspicion; coach Jackson who explains how he managed to align all those different egos; Steve Kerr, whose father, like Jordan’s, was violently murdered. Other teammates, former opponents, coaches, managers, sports journalists also contribute. Of course, his short-lived foray into baseball is also highlighted. The danger with such greatness as Jordan is, of course, that he is raised too much on a pedestal, but we also see his complexity and the frayed edges of his character shine through here. His tough winning mentality, his maniacal sports experience, his dominant nature, his resentful tendencies. Even twenty-five years later, he does not forget or forgive what anyone has said to or about him. Is this exactly what made him such a sports star? In any case, criticism or any form of provocation works like a red rag to a bull. Jordan always has the last word; even over this documentary he rules with an iron hand.

Even for those who have little or nothing to do with basketball, ‘The Last Dance’ is more than worth it. The countless anecdotes are delivered with flair, the bridges that are built between the 1997-1998 season and the period before are inventive, as is the two-part narrative structure, and the insights into the glory years of the Bulls and Jordan are rewarding. For basketball fans, there’s plenty to enjoy with legendary moments that went down in the history books like The Shot, The Shrug, The Move, The Flu Game and Jordan Air Ones. The documentary also takes you into a nostalgic flashback to the nineties, with fluorescent clothing, loose-fitting suits and delicious old school hip-hop. Michael Jordan is more than a sports legend, he is an icon of an America where ‘the sky was the limit’ and with his extreme winning mentality he symbolizes that typical American way of experiencing sport. Of course you can criticize the fact that not all players of the championship team of the Bulls get enough exposure, or that in fact not Jason Hehir (who is on the role as director) but MJ himself is firmly in control, so that the series loses objectivity. Nevertheless, rarely have sports documentaries been made more captivating, complete and entertaining than this one.