Diego Maradona (2019)

Review

130min

Genre:     Documentary, Sport

Director:  Asif Kapadia

Cast:       Diego Maradona, Claudia Villafañe, Corrado Ferlaino… and more

Writers:   Asif Kapadia

-Synopsis-

A chronicle of the charismatic football legend at the height of his success and excess at Napoli in the mid-80s, and his transformation from a kid in a Buenos Aires shantytown to a notorious global superstar—in this unflinching look at one of the greatest to ever play the world’s beautiful game, from the director of ‘Senna’ and ‘Amy’.

If there’s a better and more successful example of an archivist documentarian working today than Asif Kapadia, we sure can’t name it, and there’s probably no filmmaker more obsessed with exploring the glory and tragedy of high-achieving popular culture icons than the British director. Now after having memorably delved into the times and psyches of late legends Ayrton Senna and Amy Winehouse with award-winning results, Kapadia focuses his attentions on football’s genius Argentinean enfant terrible Diego Armando Maradona—taking us to never before seen places and providing a unique perspective on the monster of fame . . . through the prism of one of sport’s most misunderstood figures.

Lightly chronicling his childhood in one of poorest neighbourhoods in his home country—where he had raised the Maradona family station by the time he was a teenager—but focusing mainly on the time in Italy which cemented his legend, ‘Diego Maradona’ focuses on the explosion of the man’s career and turbulent life in the mid 1980s. A time which saw him take an unheralded Serie A side from the country’s poorest city to the pinnacle of national and European football, and carry an unspectacular Argentina national team to the sport’s zenith with a mixture of footballing genius and pure unadulterated cheating—but also brought an unprecedented public pressure and media scrutiny which accelerated a decent into addiction and questionable behaviour, which eventually made him Italian public enemy number one and brought about a trial-by-media . . . as well as actual trials.

Ever the master archivist and creative compiler, Kapadia takes full advantage of the unprecedented access to his subject at the height of his powers—keen to not waste the best from hundreds of hours of rarely and never-before-seen footage by not cutting away from many home videos, pictures and pieces of newsreel footage from the time, opting instead to overlay the more recent audio interviews from the featured figures, which helps to keep the audience present in Maradona’s world at all times.

Much like the director’s other documentary work, ‘Diego Maradona’ sets a certain pace and has a particular energy, in this case heightened to fit its subject’s lifestyle and persona at the time, driven by a bumping retro wave 80s synth soundtrack, led by Todd Terje’s ‘DeLorean Dynamite’ as the film’s signature track.

Unsurprisingly Kapadia presents a largely sympathetic view of his subject here, a figure who is almost as maligned as he is celebrated . . . and for good reason, but more importantly the film takes an empathetic stance towards someone who ultimately cuts a rather tragic figure.

‘Diego Maradona’ expertly exposes the extraordinary pressures and global microscope under which the young soccer superstar was placed, at a time with less sophisticated PR and no fame management, making today’s worst paparazzi hounding seem like a palace garden tea party. And all as he shouldered the hopes of a nation and became an almost messianic figure to the people of Naples—at the time the poorest city in Europe and the most maligned in the country—whose peopled were looked down upon and derogatorily referred to as the ‘Africa of Italy’ in racist fashion.

Yet the film doesn’t shy away from Maradona’s many transgressions and indiscretions, including his infidelity, decadence and rampant drug use, as well as his affiliation with the city’s infamous and powerful crime syndicate the Camorra, leaving us the space to decide whether the relationship was one of mutual advantage or a reluctant obligation on his part—and in general painting him as equal parts willing participant and victim.

It’s inevitable that this personal portrait of an icon will be compared to Kapadia’s previous two, whether fairly or not, and the sad and perhaps morbid truth it that without the ultimate tragedy at the end, it’s not quite as powerful or poignant as ‘Senna’ or ‘Amy’, lacking the same gravitas and emotional punch. It does however rise to the same standard of filmmaking, and boasts at least as much energy, ultimately making for an engrossing, perspective-changing portrait of a mercurial troubled talisman and anti-hero figure for the masses . . . who will continue to divide opinion long after he passes into pure legend.

The Bottom Line…

A captivating cinematic window into celebrity culture, the cult of fame and the pseudo-religion of football, seen through the prism of the troubled life and stellar career of a 20th century sporting icon, ‘Diego Maradona’ will change the perception of the man for some and reinforce it for others, proving as much of a contradiction as the man himself—underlining Asif Kapadia’s reputation as a star documentarian with yet another expertly put together, albeit less poignant or emotionally affecting portrait of a star.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Senna (2010)

Multi award-wining documentary from British Filmmaker Asif Kapadia chronicling the life and times of the late-great Brazilian Formula 1 racing legend and sport superstar Ayrton Senna.

Directed by Asif Kapadia and starring Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Ron Dennis among others.

Comments

comments

Comments are closed.