User Reviews

I never followed Nicolas Anelka's career with a lot of attention, but he's the kind of player who was always on your radar if you cared about football during the 2000s. His reluctance to be a superstar is supposed to explain the drama he brought wherever he played, but a documentary that sides so definitively with its subject is bound to feel unsatisfying in the end.

The first half of the movie is a well structured presentation/self-portrait of Anelka the player and Anelka the man, a complicated character who can, indeed, be easily judged as flippant and arrogant. The second half becomes mired in director Eric Hannezo's efforts to stick to his "misunderstood" subtitle, at the cost of sacrificing the documentary's chronology. That's why more controversial events of Anelka's career are brought forward, time spent at various clubs is conspicuously compressed or wholly ignored, and the story concludes on France's scandalous 2010 representation at the World Cup, with Anelka in the limelight.

In many ways, it feels like Anelka is a version of Ibrahimovic that was disliked. The documentary offers little insight as to why that might be, beyond pointing fingers at the media and managers, with some of the better insights coming from former Arsenal honcho, Arsene Wenger. So while there are definitely interesting facets to Hannezo's docu, the numerous exculpations make for a less than engaging watch, leaving too much unsaid - or unasked.

Coincidentally, I watched this right after I finished The Last Dance. Both documentaries covered successful athletes but there was also a lot of drama. Both men had similar personalities. I don't know how to put this, but when I watched MJ's story I saw a true team player. Whereas in this documentary I thought Anelka was a capricious athlete always clashing with his managers. I do get the part that he was unfairly treated for 2010 World Cup scandal, but overall I just thought some of his behavior was a bit too much for a team player.

Besides this, story line is a bit dull and superficial. Most of the documentary is like I did this and that. I didn't deserve this etc. There was nothing much about emotions of players in a team environment or some sort of a connection.

Everything set aside, I did enjoyed watching him play back in the day. I think this documentary doesn't make the cut for him. Also, if you haven't watched The Last Dance I strongly recommend it.

As a Chelsea fan I am a big fan of Nicolas Anelka as I thought overall he did a really good job at the club winning the premier league and FA Cup. But Anelka is also known as a journeyman playing in multiple countries and for some of the biggest clubs in the world. He also is known as a trouble maker causing many problems in his career and here is the Netflix documentary about his career - Anelka: Misunderstood and here is my review for it.

First of all this documentary does a great job in reminding football fans just how good a player Anelka was. Some of the goals he scored were outrageous and to think of the clubs he has played for such as PSG when he was 16, Real Madrid, Liverpool and Arsenal.

It also looks at some of the bigger controversies in his career, such as when he was accused of making an anti semetic gesture or when he led a revolt in the french national team at the 2010 World Cup. That one in particular takes up a large part of the film and it is really interesting seeing how the incident took place and having the other people such as Patrice Evra and Thierry Henry recount the event.

But this film does suffer, first of all from the fact that is a film. Anelka has such an interesting career that honestly this could have been the same length as The Last Dance based on Michael Jordan and been fascinating. But it feels like it skips over interesting points in his career such as his time in Bolton or his time playing in China which is just missing here.

Also this film is incredibly bias, it makes Anelka look like a guy who can do no wrong, even though it is clear he is very egotistical and not a team player at all. I was watching throughout and I was waiting for the opposition to him, but it never comes and feels like a puff piece created by Anelka's people.

Overall, I enjoyed this documentary because I am a football fan, there are some clear issues here but if you are a football fan then this is a good watch about a memorable and unique player.

Rating - 7/10.

Why there wasn't any scenes from Turkey ? There was a quite short one It would have better to talk about the missed Turkish Super League title at last game while he was playing for Fenerbahce

A great behind the scenes story of a truly misunderstood footballer. His talents were never fully appreciated, including by myself. I forgot how great he acually was and this film did a great job reminding me of it. Misunderstood shows Anelka's journey through numerous clubs and how he lives up to the title of being misunderstood by being perceived as being selfish and arrogant where that wasn't really the case. A great watch for any football lover!!

The documentary is solely about Anelka. I'm a soccer fan and i always wandered why he moved to different teams always and why he had short term contracts. The documentary only recommended for soccer fans , or people who want to kill time.

It was very watchable. But i found the voice overs / narrations very off putting. I understand even though most people could speak English fluently they chose to skeak in their native tongue, no problem. But why not have their voices narrated in english by French voice actors with french accents.

The whole documentary is about clearing Anelka's name... after switching 10+ clubs and doing an anti-semetic celebration for WBA, the doc gives reasons as to how it isnt his fault... if people thought the Last Dance was bias towards to MJ, this is a whole new level. But, it doesnt make it a bad documentary, i recommend watching it if youre a big football fan or simply a fan of Anelka

The documentary tries to rehabilitate Nicolas Anelka by explaining successively: that he is a good father, that the ten or so tangles with his coaches are never his fault, that he does not have the appetite for profit despite his entourage who put pressure on the 15 clubs he went through. In the end, the documentary does not do good to his image, sporting and humanely. To convince you (spoiler) watch how he addresses his son who has just returned from soccer training, humiliating him.

In short: a biased documentary that is counterproductive if you want to save Anelka's image. Definitely a great player, sadly not a team player with stable mentality.

This reminds me of The Last Dance with Michael Jordan, while Jordan did achieve a lot of things. Anelka's greatest achievement will be his ability to create noises around him.

I'm not a big documentary fan as they are normally a bit boring. But this is certainly an exception for me. It reminds you that you have 1 life & if people disrespect you there is no need to stand for it. I forgot about the massive change & benefit Anelka's actions made for young French footballers. I appreciate during the documentary he "appears honest", not afraid to point out his own mistakes, behaviours & consequences of his actions. Top player who has earned more of my respect

Nothing must see, but its okay You get a inside og Anelka

Where is Fenerbahçe? everybody knows that Fenerbahçe has added a lot to you and your life.

I liked the documentary a lot, because it showed for the first time what really happened with Anelka. And i think, its a story worth telling, because he had so much difficulties, wich others didnt had. If you know him and he's carrer, you should really watch this, because it not only show's he's struggling but still succesfull career, but also the football business and the media behind it all.

This player has been depicted as the worst that France can produce, one of those, suburb disrespectful kids that only value money and ego. Some say it's one sided, I saw a man explaining how foolish he was all along the documentary, defending himself against falls allegations. Great one.

Ok so this may be a passable documentary if you're a French speaker despite the boring narrative and woe is me thread that runs throughout, but the fact they choose not to subtitle it, but to overdub all the French interviews (of which the film is almost entirely made up of) with what sound like out of work cockney actors is beyond me. It becomes comical at times. What on Earth were they thinking? Trying to appeal to some geezers that would never watch a subtitled film but happily watch a load of French players sound like they're from Easterners. The storyline isn't great but when delivered by terry and dean from the Bethnal Green amateur dramatics club becomes more mocumentary than documentary

I liked very much this film....and changed a bit my view about this player! I truly think he was misunderstood but was too young to make it clear .... he seems to have a high emotional intelligence (confirmed by Wenger!), so, as a Team Coach in the future, he could be really very successful because he will be live with his players, no doubts about this!! Zidane, Guardiola, Klopp ... are all living with their players intensively ... What he should do, is to take very much care on his attitudes with the hierarchy of the clubs .... but he is loyal, honest, respectful, competent (confirmed Wenger), and with his experience with medias, Coaches, ... I am sure he knows now how to handle this. I like to see him coaching a team in the near future!! I really changed my mind about him!!