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Documenting rise and fall of Maradona
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WHO’S that amazingly expressive actor they got to play Diego Maradona? Oh wait — this is a documentary, and this is Maradona himself, one of the most fascinating personalities in all of sports, with a life story bordering on the mythic.
You may know the outlines of the soccer legend’s life, but there’s no way you won’t learn something from “Diego Maradona,” Asif Kapadia’s absorbing and exhaustive new film.
Much of the footage Kapadia has unearthed is mesmerizing, both for highly dramatic moments like Maradona’s hero welcome in Naples and quiet moments like the athlete sitting at a party, saying nothing, looking lost and miserable.
Because the Naples years form the heart of his film, Kapadia spends only a few minutes on Maradona’s beginnings, from his birth in a Buenos Aires shantytown to his rise as a soccer prodigy who began supporting his family from age 15.
By the time Maradona arrives in Naples in 1984, he’s greeted as a messiah. A soccer genius celebrated as much for his brilliant instincts and vision on the pitch as his physical abilities, he turns Napoli into a winning team.
At the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, with Maradona playing for Argentina, is defined in two famous quarterfinal goals against England: The infamous “Hand of God” goal (he later confessed to scoring with his hand) and minutes later one of the greatest goals in history. More glory is to come in Naples, where after a championship victory people celebrate for weeks, and a sign is erected at the cemetery for the corpses: “You don’t know what you missed.” Things are soon to unravel. Maradona’s cocaine habit worsens, but as long as he is winning, his team bosses don’t seem to care.
In 1991, Maradona receives a 14-month suspended sentence on cocaine possession charges in a plea-bargain agreement. He also gets a 15-month suspension from soccer after testing positive for cocaine. We watch as the once-adored star leaves Naples in ignominy. Maradona recalls how he’d been greeted by cheering throngs. “When I left,” he says, “I was all alone.”
Yet of all the voices in the film, it’s Maradona’s sister, Maria, who says it best.
“It’s a heavy weight,” she says, “to be so famous.”
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