Diego Maradona (2019)

Diego Maradona (2019)

TV-MA

hbo max

Wizardry in documentary filmmaking and in soccer

The Very Best

8.4

Movie

UK, United Kingdom
Catalan, English, French
Documentary
2019
ASIF KAPADIA
Alberto Bigon, Ciro Ferrara, Claudia Villafane
130 min

What it's about

Constructed from over 500 hours of never-before-seen footage, this documentary centers on the personal life and career of the controversial football player Diego Maradona who played for SSC Napoli and Argentina in the 1980s.

The take

Asif Kapadia, the genius of biopics who gave us Senna, is back with this documentary on an even bigger sports personality: Argentinian soccer player Diego Armando Maradona. Considered as possibly the best soccer player of all time, Maradona's footage on the pitch is pure wizardry, and you'll feel that way whether you are a soccer fan or not. But that's not the focus of this documentary. What happens outside the pitch is more interesting: from Maradona's modest beginnings to the passionate hatred (and love) that entire countries develop of him. And it doesn't make his story less interesting that during his time in Naples he was affiliated with the mafia.

This is an excellent documentary that distills 500 hours of footage into 2, giving you all you need to know about a character who captured the imagination of a big part of the world for decades. 

Comments

Add a comment

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

The Guilty (2018)

A minimalist, razor-sharp thriller that will have you gasping for air.

9.0

The Novelist’s Film (2022)

A deeply meaningful and uncommonly tender high point in director Hong Sang-soo's prolific career

8.8

The Novice (2021)

An occasionally overwhelming sensory experience about obsession, led by a ferocious lead actress

7.4

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Shyamalan meets Black Mirror in this hugely entertaining, visually inventive apocalyptic thriller with a killer ending

8.2

My Name Is Loh Kiwan (2024)

Love enables survival in this moving drama about the refugee experience

7.0

Hail Satan? (2019)

Forget everything you think you know about the Satanic Temple

8.0

You Are Not Alone: Fighting the Wolf Pack (2024)

A necessary and uncomfortable depiction of the rape case that changed Spain

7.3

I Lost My Body (2019)

The Oscar-nominated unconventional animation

8.2

Cold War (2018)

A quiet Polish masterpiece with ravishing music and dazzling visuals

9.2

Incendies (2011)

Part melodrama, part war thriller, Incendies is gorgeous and heartbreaking from the first scene

9.9

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw logo

© 2024 agoodmovietowatch, all rights reserved.