Diego Maradona

Exclamation Marc

Couldn't see a thread for this.

Just caught Asif Kapadia's new flick 'Diego Maradona' about the incredibly complex titular character.

It was an incredibly enjoyable watch as it focuses on his time with Napoli in the 80s and one I'd see appealing to both football and non-football fans as its deals with all things football, nationalism, mob influence and the rise and fall of an icon.

Very interesting to see his approach to a living icon after both Senna and Amy focused on those who died young.

The footage they had was incredible (footage that Diego himself authorised to be captured during his career that was never used) as it gave new angles and insights to him on the field and never before seen footage of him off the field with his family.

The insights from him, his former trainer, those in his past were wonderfully deep and really emphasised that the two sides and duality of the man, the Diego side and the Maradona side.

Would highly recommend this watch to anyone and certainly in the cinema as its not only a wonderful watch that deserves a big screen but the sound editing deserves to be enjoyed with a sound system emphasising every thump.

Pineapple1

Would love to see this but unfortunately it's not in every cinema, not showing anywhere near me anyways.

Arghus

I saw this earlier this evening.

It's an absorbing watch. The stories of Maradona and his complexities are so compelling that it can be enjoyed by football fans and people who know nothing about the sport, though, obviously, if you know a little to begin with you may appreciate it a bit more. There is a lot of football on screen at all times, what makes it is the other elements of the history that it draws on - the archetypal rags to riches tale, the nationalism and racism that Maradona faced and helped to fuel his fire, the murky politics and crime, the general head-spinning emotional intensity that existed around him all the time - and all of the drugs and all of the women. How could a person keep their head screwed on through it all?

Some of the footage is incredible. There's all of the on-pitch stuff with Maradona being alternately brutalised - literal ankle breaking tackles, countless sneaky elbows to the face, wild lunges from defenders clearly meant to maim - or displaying his awesome genius by whacking in impossible goals and drive to win after leaving chump after chump sitting on their arses in his wake. But the parts that had the most impact for me had to do with the ecstasy and agony of adulation - the opening sequence when he is unveiled in the stadium, walking through it like a messiah, thousands collectively losing the plot all around; the homecoming scene in Buenos Aires after '86, with that flag waving sea of people in the square; the raw joy of the crowd when he gets the winner in the match against Juve. But it all comes at a price, eventually. It struck me that why people loved him so much wasn't just about the things that he did, but how when he achieved great things he was totally with the fans and shared in their happiness.

But all that love and adoration is just too much after a while, people will always want a piece of you - and soon you can't get into a car or even out of your front door without being besieged. The footage of him basically struggling to catch a breath in Naples, while photographers, reporters, fans, everyone, kept coming from every angle, was exhausting and anxiety inducing. And I was only watching it; imagine living it.

Sure, there was nothing in the film I didn't already know before and, sure, I've seen most of the goals and skills down through the years, but you can never really tire of watching his skill, no matter how many times you've previously seen it. The assembling of all of those moments together, mixed with all the off field madness for context, gives the documentary a great cumulative power. What a player. What a crazy few years. Well worth a watch.

Say Your Number

Saw this in an empty cinema tonight, no one munching or talking, bliss.

He was before my time but I'm aware of him winning the World Cup and titles with Napoli, watching this gave me a bit of context, the clip of him getting stuck in the brawl with Barcelona was hilarious, the second goal against England looked amazing on the big screen as did a lot of the action footage, watching it on DVD wouldn't be half the experience.

He would try to stay on his feet and play on if he was hacked down, shows how much things have changed.

Not being able to go anywhere without being mobbed looks like hell, makes me glad I can walk down a street no one gives me a second look, it's great, no wonder he became a cocaine addict, it's mad he was off his tits for most of their second title run.

In the clip of his last game for Napoli he looked overweight, he probably could have had a few more good years in him if he was more disciplined, not that he underacheived but still.

Very enjoyable, time didn't drag at all.

mehico

I agree with the previous poster, watching this film on the big screen was special. The film was paced perfectly and from the opening moments it was gripping viewing.

The footage of the celebrations of the homecoming in Argentina after winning the world cup in 1986 were something but were possibly even surpassed by the footage of the celebrations the following year in Naples when the city celebrated Napoli's first League title.

Probably unfair to compare this to Senna which I also thoroughly enjoyed, but I just felt this film was on another level, a masterclass in editing. It even included a brief snippet of commentary from Jimmy Magee at Italia '90 if I'm not mistaken!

sacamano

Didn't think this came anywhere close to Senna/Amy. Even though it was put together from x number of hours of unseen footage, it all became a bit tedious after a while and felt like I had seen it all before. It wasn't helped by the quality of the video footage which didn't hold up on the big screen.

And it the way it concluded didn't work for me - some tv interview mid 00's followed by a few mins of him present day playing 5-a-side. Why include that at all?

If I was to watch anything Maradona related again I'd go back to this instead.

Hazys

Fantastic documentary. Two random notes:

One of the most interesting moments was when it was all starting to fall apart in Naples and they had video of him at the Napoli Christmas party. Before this, all footage of him at parties before this was him being the center of attention, laughing, singing, joking and enjoying the moment. But at the Christmas party, the footage was just him staring off into space for multiple minutes. In the context of the timeline, it was jarring to see how broken he was at that time.

One of the funniest moments was during the wiretapped phone call while taking to his drug dealer/pimp about getting coke and hookers, the drug dealer/pimp interrupted the conversation so he could get his son to talk to Maradona. The small chitchat with the kid inbetween the coke and hookers conversation has hilarious. It just showed how much of a god he was, that even during the most inappropriate conversations, the drug dealer/pimp wanted to get his son to talk to Maradona.

gormdubhgorm

It is on youtube now