Convicted of winning Bridges Sports and Politics

The deceased Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire and former four -time Italian Prime Minister who once described himself as the ‘Jesus Christ of politics’, is the subject of ESPN films ‘Last’ 30 for 30 ″ episode ‘Berlusconi: convicted of winning’.

It may seem strange that a man who was not only central to numerous criminal investigations with embezzlement, tax fraud and bribery, but also claimed that elections he lost were actually stolen from him, the subject is of a three -part sports docuseries. However, it appears that Berlusconi’s involvement in sport has created the path to his political power.

Berlusconi, who died in 2023, became known for the first time as a company and media cage that owned one of the most legendary football clubs in Italy, AC Milan. While Berlusconi demonstrably transformed the team the most successful club in the world, he used their victories to feed his own popularity, so that he was eventually driven to the highest political office in the country.

“Berlusconi would be an entrepreneur of emotions,” says “Berlusconi: convicted of winning”, director Sam Blair. “He used the irrational zeal of sport emotions to create a political movement.”

In series, Blair (“Maradona ’86”) reveals that the climb of Berlusconi raised disturbing questions about how sport can mask corruption.

“(Berlusconis) story is about more than football or politics,” says Blair. “It is about ambition, strength and the way in which sport can be used to reformulate the identity of an entire nation. It is a story about the temptation of winning and the prize that a society pays when the victory overshadows responsibility.”

Blair was intrigued when Box to Box films initially came to him with the idea of ​​turning Berlusconi’s life into a “30 for 30”.

“It felt like the ultimate collision of sport and politics, and a story that spoke to the world in which we live today,” says Blair. “Like many people, I feel disoriented by the political revolutions in recent years, and this was a story that was 25 years ahead of where we are now.”

Variety Speaked with Blair about “Berlusconi: covered to win”, who will premiere on September 16 in the ESPN app for subscribers and on ESPN2.

When you made the film, it surprised you how similar Berlusconi is with so many current day politicians? If so, was that part of the reason why you wanted to make this series?

Blair: The current echoes felt remarkable and were a huge reason to make it. From the UK, Berlusconi was considered a rough smile stock for many years, but since Brexit we can no longer take such an elevated look at him. So it felt like an opportunity to understand and see where we are going. The cult of personality around Trump is so clearly comparable. A question with Berlusconi was whether there was an ideology in which he believed, because he often made deeply disturbing alliances with the hard right. But in the end the most important thing for Berlusconi Berlusconi was, and that seemed to float him. With Trump I think we still have to see how clear an ideology that he has, outside of himself.

It is very difficult to make and distribute political documents now, so I wonder if you have used football as the way to a film about a corrupt politician?

I am a reserved filmmaker “Sports Doc”, but Sport is a beautiful Trojan horse when it comes to telling documentary. I am always interested in how a film can take an audience somewhere they do not expect, and as a filmmaker I can move the lens in every direction I choose. But in this case the seductive power of sport was absolutely central to the statement of the film. We didn’t have to come up with it – the core of the series is the remarkable moment that Berlusconi starts to use sporting rhetoric to cause a political earthquake that is still reflected.

What was the most challenging aspect of telling the story of Berlusconi?

Conducting the complexity and chaos of Italian politics in something digestible for an external audience was a huge challenge. On the positive side it contains endless drama and conflict, but would need a special 10-part series to explain well.

Who was the most difficult person to convince to sit down for an interview, and why?

We started production when Berlusconi was alive. We had contact with his people and came close to an interview, but his poor health stood in the way and ultimately made it impossible. We were able to interview some important figures from his inner circle, but many players were reluctant to talk to us. Football stars are not known for their willingness to wade in politics, but Zvonimir Boban, a great player who happens to have a degree in history, gave us an honest and insightful interview.