8 / 10
The Last Dance is Jason Hehir’s 2020 American documentary depicting the Chicago Bulls’ 1997-98 NBA championship season, the final season of the Bulls’ dynasty under Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson, with extensive footage from a previously unreleased film crew who documented the team that year. The production runs across ten episodes totaling approximately eight hours. The production was produced by ESPN Films and Netflix. The release during the early COVID-19 pandemic generated significant viewership when conventional sports programming was unavailable.
The Last Dance proves how sports documentary could operate at extended scale through access to previously unreleased footage. The film works on the premise that documentary narrative can work through nostalgic focus on sports history that the content’s quality enables. The Bulls operate as a team whose dynamic personalities and competitive achievement drive this film. Jason Hehir’s direction holds accessible tone that allows the basketball content to operate alongside the personal material. The film generated significant cultural conversation during its pandemic release window.
The Footage Foundation
The Last Dance builds on previously unreleased footage from the 1997-98 season that an NBA Entertainment crew captured throughout the year. This technique relies on access that conventional documentary couldn’t match. The effect generates intimate content that combines with subsequent interviews to register the season comprehensively.
The footage shows behind-the-scenes interactions, practice sessions, and travel moments that public coverage at the time couldn’t access. The approach allows the film to register the team’s actual dynamics instead of mere public performance. This set the template that subsequent sports documentaries extended.
For Writers
Sports documentary at extended scale requires access to material that conventional coverage cannot provide. Notice how the previously unreleased footage enables the film’s intimate content.
Jordan Cooperation
The Last Dance generated through Michael Jordan’s cooperation that allowed this film to access the unreleased footage. This technique uses arrangement that gave Jordan editorial input on the production’s framing. It generated debate about whether the cooperation compromised the work’s documentary integrity.
Jordan interviews operate through extended conversations that the cooperation enabled. The form allows the production to register Jordan’s perspective on key incidents from his career. The picture shaped the form while also generating criticism that the film privileged Jordan’s account over other perspectives.
For Writers
Subject cooperation in documentary requires balancing access against editorial independence. Watch how the Jordan cooperation enables material while generating questions about the film’s framing.
The Episode Structure
The Last Dance leans on ten-episode structure that combines chronological progression through the 1997-98 season with thematic episodes about specific players and incidents. The treatment develops through dual structure that the extended scale enables. The film generates engagement that varies across episodes.
The episode focus on particular players including Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and Phil Jackson reads as material that the season chronology alone couldn’t accommodate. The strategy allows the film to register the team’s complexity through individual focus. The approach shows how long-form sports documentary can integrate biographical material with seasonal narrative.
For Writers
Long-form sports documentary can integrate biographical and seasonal material through varied episode structure. Notice how Hehir balances chronological progression with thematic episodes.
Craft Note
The Last Dance shows that sports documentary uses access to previously unreleased footage combined with subsequent interviews. The production’s pandemic-window release and significant cultural conversation confirmed its impact. Jordan cooperation generated debate about editorial independence that this film cannot fully escape, though the content rewards engaged viewing.
Is The Last Dance worth watching?
The Last Dance stays required viewing for understanding the long-form sports documentary, the ESPN Films and Netflix collaborative tradition, and the engagement of documentary with the Jordan-era Bulls dynasty.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Craft Behind It
This film appears on one of my film lists