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Netflix’s SCHUMACHER has benefited from the buzz around a potential update on the condition of the German Formula One legend.

What we do know for certain is that in December 2013, Michael Schumacher suffered a near-fatal skiing accident in the French Alps after falling and striking his head on a rock.

He was airlifted to hospital, placed in a medically-induced coma for six months, and hasn’t been seen in public since.

The documentary is the first to be endorsed by the Schumacher family, and features never-seen-before archival footage and interviews with those closest to him.

That includes his wife, Corinna, who broke her eight-year public silence on Michael’s health when she said that he’s “different, but here”.

The long-awaited day is here, and you can now watch SCHUMACHER on Netflix.

Before you do that, let’s take a quick look at some of the reviews, which are less than favourable.

The Telegraph dished out one star and called it “catastrophically misjudged”:

It is only in the last 11 minutes of this near two-hour film, produced in collaboration with the Schumacher family, that the accident itself is even mentioned. And it is discussed in such evasive terms that viewers unfamiliar with the story may initially assume that Michael has been dead for years…

May we at least hear from a doctor, or see how he’s doing, even if it’s just a still image? No, the film says firmly: we may not…

If the officially sanctioned Michael Schumacher documentary refuses to shed even a sliver of light on the situation, it leaves the viewer mulling two uncomfortable questions. One: why on earth not? And two: with such a glaring, disingenuous omission, what purpose does the film’s existence serve?

The review says it serves one thing, the Schumacher brand, and is full of “platitudes and clichés”.

The Sydney Morning Herald was slightly kinder, giving the doccie two-and-a-half stars, calling it “a disappointing tribute to an extraordinary life”.

Writing for The Arts Desk, Adam Sweeting says SCHUMACHER doesn’t dig deep enough, and “lacks the raw, in-your-face gutsiness of Netflix’s hit F1 series Drive to Survive“:

You’re left with the sense that while you learn stuff about Schumacher, you still don’t really know him…

If [his family] felt able to lift the curtain just a fraction and allow the possibility that he had flaws and a dark side, it would surely have made for a more abrasive but more penetrating portrait.

Sweeting did give it three stars, so perhaps the one-star via The Telegraph is a tad harsh.

Michael’s family and friends have spoken often about how closely he guarded his privacy, and that’s clearly something they remained true to during SCHUMACHER, possibly to the documentary’s detriment.

Still, it’s one click away on Netflix, I will find 112 minutes to kill, and I will watch it.

[sources:telegraph&artsdesk]