Reviewed by Justin Bateman
Stars Diego Armando Maradona, Emir Kusturica | Written by Emir Kusturica
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 93 minutes | Directed by Emir Kusturica
Emir Kusturica, a Serbian filmmaker who has twice won the Palme’ D’Or at Cannes, clearly worships the subject matter of this documentary. Sadly this doesn’t translate into a good film. While Maradona was a genius on the football pitch, off it his behaviour has historically been erratic to say the least.
What we get here is a “roly poly revolutionary”, a small man with a huge ego and a hatred of the USA. And England. And FIFA. In between interviews of him spouting quasi-political rhetoric and making regretful confessions about the way he mistreated his family during his much-publicised cocaine addiction, various elements of his life are strung haphazardly together by Kusturica, each one stranger than the last.
First we are introduced to the ‘Church of Maradona’, with couples getting married on a football pitch and the bride and groom kicking a ball to celebrate their matrimony. Then we follow the man himself to Naples where he gained almost messianic status playing for Napoli and where the fans are seemingly still as smitten over a decade later. Later still, Maradona sings a song about how great he is, a song which goes on for about 10 minutes.
Interspersed throughout are short interludes of footballing highlights of his career combined with bizarre cartoons starring Maradona, George Bush and Margaret Thatcher all played out to ‘God Save The Queen’ by the Sex Pistols, and ‘The Goal of the Century’, which gets a bit tedious after the sixth time. I suspect only Argentine and Scottish fans will really find the joy in this particular repetition.
Maradona comes across as a passionate man but not an especially bright or interesting one. Being such a fan boy doesn’t exactly help Kusturica find the real Maradona, and indeed the director himself sums up the film’s failing towards the end. “Two years after starting filming, we are still wondering who Maradona is.” Unfortunately, on the evidence of what is shown here, I’m not sure who would really want to find out.
EXTRAS Trailer