Best australian sports biography documentaries

This Netflix series, a Covid-era sensation, gives us plenty of behind-the-scenes footage of the Chicago Bulls during Michael Jordan’s reign as the King of the NBA and the most famous American athlete of his time. It also shows contemporary interviews of Jordan, heavier, glassy-eyed, nursing a drink, cigar in hand, a lone figure in his mansion recounting his glory days. In his prime, Jordan was the ultimate corporate success story—until his gambling, and the personal tragedy of his father’s death, dented the shiny facade. But it’s his ruthlessness as a competitor, and six-time NBA champion, that is at the heart of this mythmaking entertainment. Jordan revisits old grudges (Isiah Thomas) and controversies (“Republicans wear sneakers, too”), while creating new rifts—just ask his running mate, Scottie Pippen. If the show is less than entirely candid, with a strong whiff of public relations, it’s a comfort-food