Documentary review: Make Us Dream

Waiting two years to watch this documentary considering Steven Gerrard is my favourite ever player by some lightyears, is perhaps a little bit poor from me. I remember watching him when I was kid, but as is the case with most children, you’re never a part of the forums or politics until you reach your teenage years maybe. So as far as looking through his eyes, and seeing an individual football player rather than ‘the frontman’, ‘captain fantastic’, this was actually a relatively new experience.

I approached this documentary thinking I was in for some goal highlights and some nostalgic commentary, but there’s a difference between re-watching and reliving. The way the documentary took you on a journey through his career made me experience (for the first time) what it was like to see a local talent build, watch amazing players around him leave, and worry about losing him too. I must say as a kid it was absolutely inconceivable that a captain, a local lad and my favourite player would be looking anywhere but Anfield, but ‘Make Us Dream’ was an emotional commentary of how that can happen even to your idols.

I thoroughly enjoyed the rendition of Istanbul ’05, but what really hit me as viewer, and one that was an invested one rather than a neutral, was the narrative afterwards, where Gerrard felt underappreciated and underwhelmed and it looked like he wanted a change immediately, after the greatest night of his career. I was not a part of this politics when I was 7, so watching fans turn from adoration to anger and fear was so harrowing to see. A historical documentary became a live watch in an instant and I found myself willing him to change his mind and stay at Liverpool FC forever.

This may be a good time to talk about the cinematography, which is always a tertiary thing for documentaries, but the lack of expectation often gives producers a license for creative freedom, and I was thoroughly impressed with the choice of clips and photos in conjunction with certain moods and music. I’ve seen many of the dramatic photos before but the way they were used here were infinitely more impactful and that was a job well done.

The way ‘the slip’ was built up to and then performed was so much more tough to watch in the format it was done than I’ve ever experienced, including at the time. Watching a player with such talent and intuition stay loyal, reach the final hurdle to achieving the Premier League title in his final years, then to see it snatched so trivially was such a painful thing to experience.

It has always been a poignancy for me watching Liverpool succeed after his retirement, that the man that deserved it most, and kept the club afloat for two decades, just missed out on the breakthrough manager Jurgen Klopp.

Any regret and pride I felt during this re-enactment of Steven Gerrard’s career was massively amplified by this documentary. So, I can only say that not only this this objectively a great production, but it took me to a place I’d never been as a Liverpool fan and made for a memorable experience.

Rating: 8.5/10