‘The end of a love story is always sad…’
Documentaries about the ’90s are like catnip for me. As I’ve got older, I’ve retreated into the warm embrace of nostalgia more and more. I find myself scrolling through Ebay looking at toys I played with when I was a kid. Worryingly, this all points to a devastating midlife crisis at some point in the near future. Still, in the meantime, here is a lovely documentary about former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger…
Football commentator Gabriel Clarke has carved out an impressive second career as a documentarian in recent years, having released Finding Jack Charlton and Bobby Robson: More Than a Manager to widespread acclaim. Arsene Wenger: Invincible doesn’t quite scale the giddy heights of those two films but it is a fascinating insight into the mind of the one of the Premier League’s all time greats.
Charting Wenger’s rise from a tiny village to the world stage, Invincible focuses mainly on the titular invincible season whilst also finding time to explore the rest of Wenger’s storied career. The issue here is that it feels as though there could be an amazing documentary about the invincible season and there could be an amazing documentary about Wenger the man. This film tries to do both and ends up falling through two stools somewhat.
Having said that, interviews with former players (notably Denis Bergkamp, Lee Dixon and Ian Wright) and old rivals (Alex Ferguson’s contribution is probably the highlight of the entire film) are genuinely compelling, and Clarke’s documentary does provide an insight into one of the great minds of modern football. We learn little about Wenger the man, but we do gain an understanding of Wenger as a football manager. The drive. The will to win.
Unlike Clarke’s films on Charlton and Sir Bobby, Invincible doesn’t have the same emotional conclusion as those films did, but it still captures a moment in time that was unforgettable for the premier league and for football fans everywhere. There is something here for all football supporters to enjoy. Apart from Spurs fans, obviously…