The HBO documentary productions have a wide sports section, which after focusing on figures such as Muhammad Ali and Tiger Woods, with shaq they turn their sights on Shaquille O’Neal.
The nba player who went down in basketball history as one of the key figures of the Los Angeles Lakers team, as well as for his imposing figure and his no less outstanding personality.
Elements that are also essential in the development of four chapters that make up the space directed by Robert Alexander, who makes his debut in por HBO and then be part of HBO Max.
Those who have as their main source to the same athlete who after becoming a basketball figure became part of American pop culture, thanks to cinema and advertising.
And whose biography is drawn on the screen through interviews with his family, former teammates and coaches, along with archive images, starting with his birth and childhood.
Basketball takes over his body
Since he came into the world in the bosom of a very religious family from New Jersey and was baptized with Islamic names as inspiration: Shaquille which means “little” and Rashaun or “warrior”.
To later be part of the family group made up of mother Lucille, her second husband, the Army Sergeant Philip – whom Shaquille or Shaq always considered his father– and his three brothers.
In a house marked by affection as well as the patriarch’s martial discipline, where he spent his days between school and TV, watching series like The Jeffersons and the tape The fish that saved Pittsburgh.
Which centers on Dr. J, as player Julius Erving was known, and pushed his dad to take him to see him at a game, making the spirit of basketball “take over his body”.
What marked the fate of Shaq, who at 13 years old already measured 1.98 meters and he was teased that his size denoted less mental capacity, but he was as intelligent as he was a good sportsman.
Between the triumph and the decline of a career
A talent on the court that would take him in just months from playing at the university in Louisiana to join the Orlando Magic, for later to be signed by the Lakers and soon to be key in their victories.
Where he played under the guidance of Phil Jackson and in the company of Rick Fox, Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant, with whom he shared a great job in the gamebut then they started a bullfight enmity.
But the docuseries also shows O’Neal’s fall, when he left the Lakers and began a pilgrimage through different teams, as well as different injuries, until decided to retire in 2011.
A path that he traveled along with his foray into rap, in several films and in the advertising of different products, without forgetting his recent facet in electronic music as DJ Diesel.
What is revived on the screen throughout four broadcasts focused on the strong presence of Shaquille and his memoriesframed by an agile narration, which includes bullet points and the use of split screen.
The ones that will surely do the basketball lovers delight and especially the fans of O’Neal, a key figure in sports history who in shaq reveals details about your wins and losses.
We want to say thanks to the author of this short article for this remarkable content
Shaq: the HBO docuseries that reveals the life of Shaquille O’Neal on and off the court