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United Kingdom · 2019
2h 10m
Director Asif Kapadia
Starring Diego Maradona, Pelé, Dalma Maradona, Daniel Arcucci
Genre Documentary
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Constructed from over 500 hours of never-before-seen footage, this documentary centers on the career of Diego Maradona, one of the greatest football players of all time. This film traces his playing career starting at age fifteen when he was made financially responsible for his family and continues through the mid-90’s.
Ultimately, Diego Maradona is about the corrupting influence of exceptionalism – swept into the game and made financially responsible for his family at 15, the arrested development Maradona suffers is writ large and ultimately leads to his downfall.
The Playlist by Bradley Warren
Kapadia’s tight focus and compelling viewpoint make “Diego Maradona” a must-see for soccer fans, and certainly a biographical doc of interest to wider audiences.
You couldn’t ask for a better match between filmmaker and subject.
Screen Daily by Fionnuala Halligan
Even with an abrupt ending and the sense of unfinished business, Diego Maradona is more satisfying than Kapadia’s previous work.
The Observer (UK) by Mark Kermode
I found myself gripped by a universally accessible tale of a divided soul – a figure whose dual personas are embodied in the two names of the film’s title; Diego and Maradona.
It’s a heady, engrossing, indulgently sprawling profile of a modern athlete in all his glory and contradiction, but it’s also a film that leaves you with more questions than it should.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
Kapadia’s film is a gripping account of Maradona’s playing career until the mid-90s, though it is flawed by a lack of new material of the sort he had for his previous film about Amy Winehouse.
Diego Maradona has the football and the drugs – think Scarface with screamers – but it’s a surprisingly emotional ride too. In the spirit of all good docs, it’ll make you reappraise your feelings about the man and the myths around him.
The Film Stage by Rory O'Connor
Indeed, this is not just a sporting film but, like Amy or Senna, a film about the volatility of fame and genius and what those two things can do to humans. An interest in the game is probably as essential here as an interest in Formula 1 was for Senna. Which is to say: not a lot.
The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Dalton
The director's latest rise-and-fall chronicle suffers from a few structural problems that did not bedevil Senna or Amy. Most obviously, the subject is still very much alive, which may explain why this officially endorsed film feels more cautious and compromised than it might have been.
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