is truly a film for our times. Essentially a two-hour advertisement for Nike, it is being acclaimed as stunning entertainment, and a potential “movie of the year”. We’ve come a long way from 1999, when Naomi Klein’smade the case against Nike and other big brands as shameless exploiters of the developing world., Nike is the all-American underdog that triumphs over the big brands – the little guy that beats overwhelming odds to become a major player.
It’s decidedly odd that in a world in which people have traumas about their pronouns, everyone seems so happy to have a huge company portrayed in the most lovable, heroic light. Once upon a time lefties were concerned about the working classes, nowadays it’s all about race and gender. Capitalism gets a free pass so long as it makes the right noises about ‘inclusiveness’.
The story revolves around Nike’s efforts to recruit rising star Michael Jordan to be the figurehead of their campaign to capture the market for basketball shoes. When the film begins, in 1984, they are a distant third to their rivals, Converse and Adidas. Low sales translate into a tight marketing budget, which restricts the company’s ability to sign promising talent.and realises this young man is something special.
As everyone knows that Nike will eventually sign Michael Jordan, the skill of the movie, and of Alex Convery’s script, is to make an engaging narrative from a scenario utterly devoid of suspense. It’s not the outcome that keeps us switched on, it’s the way that outcome is achieved: the personalities and negotiations that make it happen.
Do you get to see footage of the sweatshops in the movie?
A movie review .?