The documentary chronicling the life of combat sports announcer Mauro Ranallo, “Bipolar Rock ’N Roller,” premiered Friday night on Showtime, but its content is too intimate, too dramatic and too important to be buried on the network’s on-demand platform.
Plans are already in the works to condense the documentary directed by Haris Usanovic into a 30-minute PG-rated version that can become an educational tool distributed to schools, universities, civic groups, treatment centers and mental health facilities. Ranallo, who serves as the blow-by-blow voice for Showtime boxing and a number of other combat ventures, suffers from bipolar disorder, which transforms him from the exuberant, entertaining announcer into moods of deep depression and manic behavior.
The documentary is filled with raw footage of Ranallo, combining his brilliance as a self-taught musician, rapper and announcer with his darkest moments. It’s an unfiltered, authentic look into his world where viewers hear him speak openly of suicide and events that led him to be hospitalized eight times for anywhere from three weeks to three months.
“The reason this works is people get to see me at my worst,” Ranallo said during a private showing in Manhattan earlier this week…