To paraphrase its namesake subject, watching Lynch: A History feels like running through the motherfucking face of the traumas of both Black America and the Seattle Seahawks over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. The film uses almost exclusively archival footage to build a portrait of former Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch that shows both how difficult his journey to a Hall of Fame caliber career was, and the utterly unique way he traversed the difficulty of playing football and being a thoughtful black man in America.
Let’s start with the montage; when I sat down to watch Lynch, I knew I was going to have to watch Marshawn Lynch not get handed the ball in Super Bowl 49. Repeatedly. And director David Shields made sure I got every angle, every reaction. This was a moment I thought I was over; as presented in Lynch, it is clear that trauma still lingers beneath the surface for me. It also makes clear the depth of the trauma that moment represented for the team and for Lynch in particular. Shields makes Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson into something of a villain, in particular resurfacing a press conference I had forgotten where Wilson goes full All Lives Matter. In doing so, he captures the oft-reported feeling within the Seahawks locker room in the wake of Super Bowl 49 in newly visceral terms.