Inside The World of Brand Neymar
Neymar Jr. has become the latest footballer to take a crack at telling his story via a Netflix documentary. Neymar: The Perfect Chaos (watch here) is a 3 part series chronicling the Brazilian superstar’s life from the favelas in São Paulo to his mansion in Paris. Half of the show is a career retrospective and half includes interviews and clips from when the show was filmed in 2019 as the viewer gets a glimpse into Neymar’s relationships with his family and friends.
“Every superhero movie starts out with a tragedy, chaos”
For those unfamiliar with Neymar, this documentary does paint a fairly clear picture of who he is; as much as you’d expect from a PR exercise, anyway. It recounts the highs and lows of his controversial career and, perhaps surprisingly, doesn’t shy away from a segment covering his 2019 rape case, which didn’t result in a charge due to insufficient evidence (his accuser was then charged with slander and extortion- both charges were later dropped).
Clips of the PSG forward being criticised for various reasons are littered throughout the documentary, normally followed by him declaring how he doesn’t care what anyone thinks of him (if he really didn’t care, he probably wouldn’t keep saying he doesn’t care) whilst there’s also footage of his moments of brilliance on the pitch, such as the famous ‘remontada’ match in 2017.
“We used to have a father and son relationship, but we have drifted,”
The most revealing parts of the documentary explore Neymar’s relationship with his father, Neymar Sr., who has been micromanaging his son’s career since he was a child, attempting to engineer a move to Real Madrid when Jr. was just 14 years old. Neymar objected on that occasion and has since gone against his fathers wishes throughout his career, including his decision to join PSG as well as his father’s wish for him to take over his company brand when he retires.
These disagreements have strained their relationship greatly and paints a picture of a father and son who achieved great professional success, but at a significant personal cost.
There are some further moments of candidness such as when Neymar remarks how his first 2 years in Paris “fucking sucked”, but the scarcity of these moments seem like a missed opportunity to delve further into Neymar’s psyche. Frustratingly, he doesn’t really explain why he left Barcelona for Paris, nor why he wanted to re-join the Spanish club 2 years later, before eventually signing a new 4-year deal in Paris last year.
Overall, there are some moments that make Neymar: The Perfect Chaos engaging, though don’t go into it expecting ground-breaking revelations. Neymar is one of the most polarising athletes in the world and, whether you love him or hate him, this documentary will likely not change your opinion of him, though it is a worthwhile watch.
