Con’s Score: 4.5 Hands of God
When I mentioned I was seeing this documentary to an English friend, a few minutes later he was still frothing. Maradona is someone who still inspires anger, passion and ridicule in people.
Director Asif Kapadia – who also made the excellent Senna and Amy – is a Brit. This screened at Cannes and is one of those docos where no voice-over is required. Diego has been followed by cameras since childhood, so there is lots of footage to pick from, following him as an 11 year old prodigy to the heights at Napoli to the lows that followed the 1990 World Cup.
It’s amazing when you consider he grew up in a true corrugated-iron shanty town, but football is a religion in Argentina. The money from his first contract went into a home for his family but he ventured to Europe on his own. Lean, cheery and clean, he was like an innocent fed to the wolves, and he was soon hacked into submission at Barcelona in La Liga.
Napoli was a vicious paradise for Maradona; where people are adoring, generous and as loyal as rats. He took them from relegation survivors to Series A and UEFA Cup winners within two years. He was phenomenal. But when he scored a penalty against Italy in a World Cup semi, in Napoli, everyone in Italy turned. Yes, he was a coke fiend, a womaniser… but when the mafia have their hooks in you, via an addiction, you want to escape but you’re denied the Exit, what do you expect? Redemption comes after a fall.
Seeing him in action again reminded me what an incredibly gifted player he was. His second goal after the Hand of God goal against England still stands as the best in World Cup history. I can now forgive him the former effort, especially when seen in context of the Farlands war. What was fair and sporting about that?
In this context it’s heartening this documentary was put together by an Englishman. Kapafia spares Diego humiliation by only lightly touching on his descent into caricature after leaving the game. It is a glaring omission but it’s not as important as seeing how the pedestal was built in the first place. Football fans will revel in the game day footage and it’s where he was most alive. Three nights of partying followed by four days of fierce dedication is a regime plenty of modern footballers still follow. His drugs were hardly performance-enhancing.
This is just as much a cautionary tale about the ravages of fame as it is about a footballer. How you still feel about him after seeing this will be different to what you felt before, despite how much you already knew. Which means this is an excellent documentary for all.
Con Nats – On The Screen
