My Review of "Bye Bye Barry"

Bye Bye Barry is a sports documentary exclusively streaming on Amazon Prime. I'm not familiar with Barry Sanders but I do remember hearing his name back in the 90s. I had no idea how good he was let alone the controversy behind his career. Then again I have never really been a big American Football fan. I just love learning these stories.

The documentary starts off with the a little introduction as to the impact of what Barry Sanders did during his career. We then go back to the beginning. What really made Barry who he was. He came up from a modest upbringing but very old school values. His father was strict but loved attention. This was the polar opposite of who Barry was.

I think the film does a really good job in establishing the psyche of Barry as he was growing up. We see that he truly valued the validation from his father but his father. Despite his father being quite tough he did also seem fair. They didn't paint his father in a terribly negative light but I could see a lot of pressure. Growing up in a large household I could also see how he could be lost in the shuffle.

Though he didn't seem to like the limelight attention from the media or anyone. The movie shows how he really shies away from accolades and is really there for the love of the game. This goes on throughout his career and he is a very consistent person.

They made a note that even after every touchdown he wouldn't do any celebratory dances or showboating. He would simply hand the ball to the referee as if it was nothing. This was definitely instilled to him from his father. It kind of makes me wonder how I would react if I was in the same situation. Honestly, I don't think I would be able to handle the excitement. To have someone be able to contain that type of excitement especially during big games is pretty serious. You should see some of the touchdowns that he was able to get.

That's some of the most beautiful shots of the movie. What Barry was able to do on the field is pretty much art in itself. You see him juking and dodging defenders as if it was childs play. I had to be reminded that this was in the NFL and that some of these were top players on top teams. How is this guy so gifted and not care? Well I'm sure he cares because he did care about winning.

The big question throughout the movie that was brought out in the beginning of the movie was why did he retire so early. He was close to beating the all time records but we already established that he didn't care about accolades. This movie does a good job in dissecting what motivations could have possibly pushed him over the edge.

I think it was a culmination of a whole slew of different things. The pressure from the public and his father is one small piece. I think a lot of it had to do with his sense of loyalty. The movie depicts him as a very loyal person. He stuck with the team through thick and thin. Over the years, the teammates that he would die for on the field would start disappearing. Pretty soon he doesn't have the same group of people. I think it started to feel like a job after a while. I can understand where he comes from.

Back in the day there wasn't much talk about mental health and I think today more people would understand his position than back in the 90s. The team was constantly losing and with a rotating cast of players to play with there is no cohesion.

Overall, I thought this was an eye opening movie and it was very entertaining. I loved that they dived deep into his story and explained all the nuances of the situation Barry was in. Sure, there are probably other factors in there that probably got omitted from the actual movie. For a cohesive, comprehensive and entertaining movie it did a good job. I have to give this one a 7 out of 10.