For all his flaws, Maradona was a footballing god and an enigmatic one. His life being captured brilliantly in this breath-taking documentary.
Diego often had a dark cloud over his head during his footballing years, the infamous ‘Hand of God’ incident tried to overshadow the greatness of this man’s footballing talents, and since the debate surrounding Diego would be whether he was a cheat or a genius. However, like someone in the film says, “A bit of cheating, a lot of genius”, this film highlights the genius of the man, with the flaws only adding to this genius.
The World Cup of 86 was momentous in the legacy of Maradona, the little wizard was the star of a tournament full of stars, the final itself he created the deciding goal for teammate Jorge Burruchaga against West Germany. Diego’s now godlike status was propelled into a new stratosphere, the film plays an audio recording he has with his mother in the aftermath, a lovely message to say however successful you become, always ring your mother first! Director Asif Kapadia, who had previously directed 2010s Bafta winning documentary Senna as well as 2015’s Oscar winning documentary Amy, considers this latest project his final piece in a trilogy that portrays the lives of child prodigy’s in their respective arts, with Diego possibly topping the others in this ultimate tale of rags to riches and back to rags once more.
The documentary follows Maradona from the wild streets of Buenos Aries right through his career to its end in the mid-90s, hitting the dizzying heights of worldwide stardom during the mid to late 80s and how it comes crashing down a few seasons later. It is supported along the way by archive footage of his playing days, his famous parties and home videos with his family, all this shows us the two personalities of the man, as his wife says in the film “half of the time we have Diego, the honest, loving boy from the streets, the other half we have Maradona, celebrity footballer”.
The film is unique compared to other films about Maradona, this one seems to be a lot more personal and explores him on a human level, there is some smart editing that lets us focus on Maradona’s mannerisms as he reacts to constant media harassment and his adoring fans who follow him everywhere. Something else to accompany the footage is the voice of a more recent conversation with Maradona, elegantly describing his thoughts about certain events in his past, with acute honesty.
The editing from Chris King is hectic at times, a pace almost as quick as Maradona himself, yet it works, it adds to the chaos of Maradona’s life. There are segments of pure craze, lighting quick cuts between football, parties, drinking, family, football, training, family, clubs, gangsters. It can be hard to keep up, the flashing lights are blurring the senses almost, but this method helps the viewer in understanding the lavish lifestyle of Maradona. Diego had to learn to become a man during his youth when he became the primary breadwinner for his family after his first contract at 15 with Argentinos Juniors. This leads him unsuccessfully to Barcelona where ill-discipline and injuries began to accumulate, eventually landing him with the transfer to Napoli, a surprise to many, but a place where Diego could “get his head down and just play football”.
One of the films core aspects is how well revered Maradona was by the local Neapolitans, worshipped almost to the same level as God himself, some would swear even higher than the almighty. Maradona almost single-handedly brought Naples back to the forefront of Italian football, winning leagues, and trophies, knocking the Northern enemies from Milan and Turin off their ivory perch. Southern Italian cities such as Naples had for years been the subject of torrid abuse at the hands of their Northern counterparts, being called “unclean”. The newfound success Maradona brought to the city gave fans happiness and hope that they could be treated on an equal level.
This new level of notoriety Maradona built for himself and the success it brought to the city was the beginning of his inevitable downfall, it led to him getting involved with drugs and the infamous Camorrista mobsters. It all led to the next World Cup, Italia 90, where his reign as king of the people would come crashing down. Never have I seen such a quick turnaround in people’s feelings than the Neapolitans had towards Maradona than after the Semi Finals of that tournament. Maradona enraged the people by claiming Neapolitans should support his native Argentina over Italy due to the North-South divide, a glaring error by Maradona and when Argentina won, a bridge had now been burned and Maradona was now public enemy number one. No more protection from the mobsters, Maradona was left in state of bewilderment and the drugs and loneliness began to set in, moving was his only option.
Maradona really was a fantastically gifted footballer, possibly the most gifted of all time, he was balletic in his movements with a ball, gliding across the pitch like and ice skater. It is almost heart breaking to see how his demons often overshadow his great talismanic talents. It is fitting that in an interview with Maradona towards the end of the film he mentions that “I am losing by knockout” regarding his addiction, which as we all know, eventually assisted in his passing. Kapadia’s film should be celebrated as a great tribute to albeit flawed, but a true genius of his respective trade.
Available to watch on Amazon Prime and channel 4 player now.
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