Rise and fall of Maradona
Diego Maradona (M, 130mins) Directed by Asif Kapadia Reviewed by James Croot ★★★★
Of the hundreds of top-level football matches the man born Diego Armando Maradona played, one best reflects his polarising nature.
His beloved Argentina’s 1986 World Cup quarterfinal against England is memorable for two moments – one a piece of sublime sustained skill, the other one of the worst instances of cheating in toplevel sport.
Maradona himself always described the latter as coming from ‘‘the Hand of God’’, rather than his own extremity.
Three decades later, in this fascinating documentary, he reveals he not only knew what he was doing, it was an act of revenge both for the English players’ bullying and the Falkland Islands conflict between the two nations earlier in the decade.
That’s just one of many instances of petulance and defiance that punctuate this exploration of the genius and madness of the Argentinian footballing maestro.
Like Asif Kapadia’s earlier examinations of the rise and fall of Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna and singer Amy Winehouse, this makes terrific use of archival footage (some of which had never been seen publicly before) to offer viewers an insight into magnificent talents whose complicated personalities proved to be both their strengths and their weaknesses.
The difference with Diego
Maradona, of course, is that the subject is still with us. That means those expecting a soup-to-nuts look at the 58-year-old’s life and times may be a little disappointed. There’s no mention of his disastrous World Cup debut in 1982 and little of his exit in disgrace at the 1994 tournament. Instead, the major focus is on his seven-yearstint in Italy.
Although some might see that focus as a little short-sighted, it actually perfectly encapsulates
Maradona’s perceived Jekyll and Hyde nature (the man himself even admits to having two personalities – Diego and Maradona). When he arrived in Naples in 1984 he was greeted in Italy’s poorest city by 85,000 screaming fans. No-one mourned his departure when he finally parted ways with the club in 1992. And that’s despite delivering the club a Uefa Cup and their first Serie A titles.
Diego Maradona documents his finest moments on the pitch and his most troublesome off it. There was the cocaine use, his closeness to the city’s controlling camorra, a paternity scandal and – worst of all in his host country’s eyes – his betrayal by ending Italy’s 1990 World Cup dream in the semifinal on Napoli’s home ground.
As with Amy and Senna, Kapadia lets his footage do most of the talking, with only the occasional insight from Maradona’s sisters (he had four older female siblings in all), personal trainer, former wife, various footballing experts and the man himself.
With snippets from chaotic press conferences, post-match celebrations and electrifying onfield action, it’s a tactic that delivers delights at every turn.