'Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes' is an incisive commentary on mental health and sport

'Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes' is not about Stokes’ triumphs on the cricketing field; it’s a deeply personal story of a sportsperson who has openly talked about dealing with mental health issues. (Image credit: Amazon Prime Video/screen grab)

The summer of 2019 was a rare period when a single player dominated the discourse across the cricketing world.

Two innings set England’s Ben Stokes apart that year. A powerful, versatile and impactful cricketer in his own right, following on the template of his English predecessor Ian Botham, Stokes could win matches with the ball or bat—or both. But he showed in 2019 that he had the strength and will power to supplement his cricketing talent, winning two matches for England that at different points looked like lost causes.

First was the ICC World Cup final, in which, while chasing New Zealand’s 241, Stokes came in at 71-3. He battled on to remain unbeaten on 84 as wickets fell around him, but managed to take England to an improbable tie. Battling fatigue and intense pressure, he came back to bat in the Super Over, for the match to be tied again, but England won on the basis of a boundary count rule.

Just over a month later, trailing 0-1 in a five-match Ashes Test series, England were chasing 359 to win the third Test at Headingly. Stokes didn’t buckle under the pressure, kept going even as he was running out of partners. Last man in Jack Leach stuck around, adding the last 76 runs with Stokes, till the all-rounder finished the chase with a boundary. The miracle of Headingly II, as it was, gave England a one-wicket win, thanks to Stokes’ unbeaten 135 and provided a shot of adrenalin to the five-day format.

A new documentary, Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes, on Amazon Prime Video lends generous amounts of time to these two innings, which doesn’t get tiring to re-watch, given the sheer drama involved. But Phoenix from the Ashes is not about Stokes’ triumphs on the cricketing field; it’s a deeply personal story of a sportsperson who has openly talked about dealing with mental health issues.

These two defining innings, redemption for Stokes, had come after the cricketer had seen the depths of failure and embarrassment. In the 2016 Twenty20 World Cup final in Kolkata, England had to defend 19 runs in the final over, a match that was within their grasp. But Carlos Braithwaite slammed Stokes for four sixes to snatch the title. The following year, Stokes was embroiled in a bar brawl, leading to his arrest. Though he was cleared of charges, he had missed an Ashes and lost his vice captaincy.

These incidents, besides the death of his father in 2020, tabloid stories about his mother’s past life, fame and expectations, and finally the pandemic, combine to contribute to a sense of suffocation for him. Stokes tells filmmaker Sam Mendes, who is also an executive producer on Phoenix from the Ashes, that he has never been much of a talker, indicating perhaps that there was no outlet for him to deal with the issues bothering him. He talks about having anxiety attacks, about the feeling he had that he was playing for the wrong people and that he didn’t want to play for England at one point.

Last summer, Stokes took an indefinite break from the sport, to deal with mental health issues and to heal an injured index finger. This year, he declared that he would be, at age 31, retiring from one-day internationals, saying that “three formats are just unsustainable for me right now. I will give everything I have to Test cricket and now, with this decision, I feel I can also give my total commitment to the T20 format.”

Through the film we find Stokes to be a combative person, who had his shares of brawls while growing up in Cumbria in UK, where the family had moved to from Christchurch, New Zealand. That combined with his impressive talents gave him the sobriquet of The Beast in Durham.

Teammates give us an insight into his personality. “He has that (ability) that no one else has,” says Joe Root. “Some people can take themselves to dark places. Not everyone can push themselves to extremes,” says another.

“The game allows your thoughts to run away with you. There is a lot of time you are not involved,” says Jos Buttler, talking about playing during the pandemic when cricketers were restricted to bubbles that was the ground and lonely hotel rooms in faraway places like the West Indies.

Stokes’ manager Neil Fairbrother says the trial made him grow up quickly in a brutal way. The weeks preceding the trial and the incident changed Stokes as a person, he says.

Shot in a dark, brooding manner, the film allows for lots of long pauses. Stokes does not answer all of Mendes’ questions, leaving us to interpret what he may have felt at the time. The film’s focus is clearly on Stokes the person, rather than Stokes the cricketer, though the two aspects are inseparable.

Phoenix does get confusing because the timelines are not chronological—it tends to jumps years, which means you don’t know what turmoil Stokes is going through at the time. Unless you are aware of his triumphs and controversies, you would struggle to stitch the narrative together, not knowing whether this is a period of high (summer of 2019) or a low phase.

Goofy teammate Mark Wood provides a touch of humour to the film that’s about an hour and 45 minutes long. Mendes adds gravitas, including a deep sermon on one of his life philosophies that goes something like this: “A man’s work is nothing more or less than the slow trek to rediscover those great and simple images in the presence of which his heart first opened.”
Pat comes Stokes’ reply: “I have no idea what you just said.”

Certain bits about the family’s past tend to drag the narrative. But directors Chris Grubb and Luke Mellows make good use of the extensive access they get to Stokes’ world, shooting with his wife, children and parents, besides at Cockermouth in Cumberland where he grew up. The film is dedicated to Stokes’ father Gerard and Shane Warne, who passed away earlier this year, and has some appreciative things to say about Ben Stokes in the film.

This is an important film for followers, to understand that behind the images of high-fives and despair, trophies and tears, there are flawed human beings, dealing with issues of success and scandal, putting up a brave front to protect an image. Stokes, who recently became England’s Test captain, contributes to the cause, by opening up on camera, allowing others perhaps the courage to talk about it as well.