José Mourinho, the storied football manager, is the subject of a new three-part documentary series on Netflix, directed by Joe Pearlman, known for the 2018 film Bros: After the Screaming Stops. The series offers a character study that, while revealing, ultimately leaves the viewer wanting more, as Mourinho himself admits, "You are pushing me to speak about myself. And I don't want to."
A Reluctant Subject
The documentary, from the creators of Bros: After the Screaming Stops, was expected to be as entertaining as its predecessor, but Mourinho is a very different subject. The Goss twins, stars of Bros, were sweetly lacking in discretion or self-awareness, making everything they said land like a line from a Christopher Guest parody. Mourinho, in contrast, takes himself very seriously and is something of a closed book. His reluctance to open up raises the question: why agree to star in an in-depth documentary series?
The answer, it seems, is to set the record straight. Mourinho feels misunderstood and misrepresented. When he arrived in England, he was dubbed 'The Special One', but he claims, "The Special One is some special shit some guys in England thought up for me." Pearlman mischievously cuts to a clip of Mourinho describing himself as "a special one" at his first press conference as Chelsea manager, a distinction he insists upon.
A Career of Boom and Bust
Mourinho's career has been marked by remarkable success and frequent controversy. In 2004, he won the Champions League with FC Porto, and his first spell at Chelsea was a tale of almost uninterrupted glory, though the documentary might have probed more into the sporting and moral implications of its bankrolling by Roman Abramovich. At Real Madrid, he reversed the polarities of Spanish club football and won a heated personal battle with then-Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola.
The documentary does not shy away from his appalling behaviour, including acrimonious battles with officials. His accusations against referee Anders Frisk led to Uefa clearing him of responsibility for Frisk's resignation after his family received threats. His dealings with the media were paranoid, haughty, and scornful, and he built teams in that image: sour, spiteful, difficult to like but hard to beat.
The Siege Mentality and Its Costs
Cultivating a siege mentality is an age-old tactic, but the documentary shows how it works from the inside. Being as insufferable as Mourinho on his worst days constitutes its own kind of courage, because imagine if he failed. For a time, players responded, with John Terry claiming he'd have left the pitch "in a coffin" for Mourinho. Player after player claims he created a family, but these families were often barely functional and lacked staying power.
For a while, this high wire act is gripping, but the patterns of Mourinho's managerial career become limiting. He is a manager of boom and bust, of diminishing returns, unable to build anything lasting. The documentary hints at vulnerability, including his almost non-existent playing career and his inferiority complex in relation to his father, also a football coach. "I was so proud to be Mourinho's son," he says. "He's the opposite of me in that everybody loves him."
A Glimpse, Not a Revelation
These moments of confession and vulnerability don't come often enough or go deep enough to grip anyone beyond football aficionados. Mourinho admits he doesn't have much else in his life, and we meet his family briefly near the end. "I know that they enjoy life much more without me," he confesses.
Like most prodigiously successful people, Mourinho is clearly quite odd, and possibly slightly unfulfilled as he prepares to take over again at Real Madrid. He doesn't want the world to see too much of this. Success is relative, in life, in football, and in documentary making. Making a film about Bros was probably less exacting and more fun. Mourinho is on Netflix.
