Kobe Bryant's Muse: Recap and Reaction of Showtime Documentary

 Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant has never been one for public spectacles. He's one of the greatest players in NBA history, but likes to let his play on the court speak for itself. That changed, at least a little bit, on Saturday with the premiere of his Showtime documentary Kobe Bryant's Muse. 

Bryant had a hand in what sides of himself were seen as an executive producer, but director Gotham Chopra did his best to break down who this enigmatic figure is by looking at his life in the past and what it will mean for the future. 

As for why Bryant chose this avenue to unleash all of the secrets he wanted everyone to know, here's what the former NBA MVP told Greg Braxton of the Los Angeles Times:

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I didn't want to write a book — I don't have the patience to do that. We wanted to create something really different, very truthful. Cinematically, we wanted to do something that would be different from the ways documentaries are shot. This was about doing something that was fun, but also honest.

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If there was an individual quote from the film that perfectly captured everything fans know about Bryant from watching him play, it was this one from Showtime Sports:

No one would deny that Bryant loves being a basketball player, but there has always been an anger and rage that shines through on the court. It could be his never-ending quest for perfection, greatness, titles, etc., but it hasn't left as he's gotten older. 

Yet there was a process Bryant went through to become one of the best players. As noted by ESPN's Cari Champion, there were many Lakers fans who did not embrace the brash young star early in his career:

It took Bryant three years into his career before the Lakers made him a starter and four years before he broke the 20-point per game threshold, so you can see the evolution in his game and role looking back on things. 

Champion pointed out on Twitter that process was the entire point of Muse:

As Bryant has aged and been more susceptible to injuries, combined with the Lakers' struggles the last two years, this quote from the documentary provided by Basketball Forever takes on an entirely different weight:

You read that quote, or hear it if you watched the documentary. Now, let's look back at Bryant's recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. If you go to the one minute, 45-second mark of the video below, you will see Jimmy Kimmel bring up the topic of how the Lakers celebrated a win over Boston on February 22. 

You can tell, even with the laughter from Kimmel and the studio audience, Bryant is ashamed, angered, frustrated and embarrassed that his teammates would be so enthusiastic over a February victory in which they needed overtime after blowing a nine-point lead late in the fourth quarter to snap a seven-game losing streak. 

Bryant, needing to be Superman at all times, doesn't want to see anyone else overcome with positive emotion during a year in which they are currently 16-41. 

That attitude, which unquestionably helps make Bryant great, has left him alone in some respects. He said as much to Chuck Klosterman in an interview with GQ:

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I have friends. But being a "great friend" is something I will never be. I can be a good friend. But not a great friend. A great friend will call you every day and remember your birthday. I'll get so wrapped up in my s***, I'll never remember that stuff. And the people who are my friends understand this, and they're usually the same way. 

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One good thing that Bryant can take away from an otherwise dreadful NBA season, per ESPN's Darren Rovell, is that this project raised the bar for future documentaries involving athletes:

Being a naturally combative person, believing that's what it takes to get the best out of a person, makes Bryant a difficult teammate. He's struggled to attract star players to Los Angeles in his career. 

Even when the Lakers won titles in 2008-09 and 2009-10, those rosters were built largely on trades (Pau Gasol) and drafting (Andrew Bynum).

Bryant may not want to build a super team in the way LeBron James did for four years with the Miami Heat, but Los Angeles should have been a more attractive option than it turned out to be last summer with superstars like Carmelo Anthony available. 

That's not to put all the blame on Bryant, as the Lakers have been sinking in the front office for years, but doesn't help his personal reputation. Yet his entire philosophy is summed up at the end of the film when he says his brain "cannot process failure."

Everyone fails at some point in their life. Bryant hasn't been perfect, as he readily admits at various points throughout the documentary, but there's a difference between failing at something and being a failure. 

In pulling back the curtain to let people see what his life has been like, dating back to his time as a kid living in Italy to rehabbing from an Achilles' surgery in 2013, Bryant has shown that his drive and will was built on failure. It made him stronger and one of the greatest athletes of the 21st century.