Educational Media Reviews Online

Behind the Shield tells the story of the long, troubling history of the National Football League and how it reflects the rot at the heart of American society. A sport created out of toxic masculinity with a long history of racism, it turned to a hyped-up sense of patriotism and military symbolism during the Vietnam War era and has doubled down on this imagery in the decades since. Narrator Dave Zirin, sports editor of The Nation, recounts the stories that even someone remotely aware of the NFL would be aware of: CTE; Pat Tillman; Colin Kapernick taking a knee during the national anthem; as well as some stories viewers might not be aware of, such as the “paid patriotism” scandal.

Each of these stories could be the focus of their own documentary, and at times it feels as if each one is not getting the focus that they deserve. The documentary, however, is trying to look at the NFL in a wider context—a moneymaking machine for an elite, white few who have used American jingoism to silence its mostly African American players and to hide the lasting damage it causes to their health. While the NFL’s 2020 Black Lives Matter statement is covered, it is also accompanied by the comments from sports journalists that all NFL owners are white, and generally silent on issues of social unrest.

The film uses unsettling clips of news pundits, Donald Trump, and football fans denigrating Kapernick and invoking the sanctity of the flag and the national anthem. The rage and insults on display are difficult to watch. Nauseating clips of people shooting, burning, and destroying in other violent ways Kapernick jerseys speaks volumes about something having gone seriously wrong in American society. But as the documentary makes clear in its coverage of the history of the league, that something has always been there, and all the military flyovers and public relations stunts will not cover it up. The documentary tries to end on a hopeful note, which feels a little false after everything that has aired in the previous 90 minutes, but this ending could spark interesting classroom conversations.

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