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D10S mio, what a life!

29.8.2019

Translation: machine translated

Diego Armando Maradona flew so high as a player that he never found solid ground under his feet again. A cinema documentary focusing on his Napoli years impressively shows how the player of the century was dragged from his peak to the abyss.

Two times in the space of a few decades, all the footballing talent in the universe was channelled into one small Argentinian body. Maradona and Messi. Happy Argentina. Anyone who sees Messi play has to admire him. There is no other way. But despite the hipster beard and tattoos that adorn him in his later years, he sometimes looks like he's straight out of a Playstation. As if his programmers had packed in all the skills and forgotten about facial expressions and charisma.

This is completely different with Diego Armando Maradona. "El Pibe de Oro", the golden boy, was and is the big drama. The greatest rock star and the most vulnerable soul in football. I once bought a book full of pointless football statistics, just because his heavenly gaze under his sweaty curls on the cover contained so much world-weariness that it wouldn't let me go.

From the very bottom to the very top: Diego arrives in Napoli in 1984 - and is welcomed by 85,000 Tifosi at the Stadio San Paolo.
Source: © DCM Film Distribution

He unhinges the football world

If you only know Maradona as the bloated lunatic who hangs over the parapet of his box of honour every four years at the World Cup, you urgently need to get to know the footballer of the twentieth century better. His genius and tragedy came together in the years from 1984 onwards, when he reached the pinnacle of his art and the abyss began to open up. Maradona ends up at SSC Napoli, is showered with expectations and love - and, despite everything that weighs on his shoulders, lifts the football world off its hinges.

The boy from Buenos Aires' poor neighbourhood of Villa Fiorito and the scruffy kids from Italy's south who are ridiculed by the rich north - it's a perfect match. It is love. A fatal amour fou. Diego leads Napoli to two championships, the first and so far the last in the club's history. He wins the UEFA Cup and is crowned world champion with Argentina. He goes higher than ever before or since.

Diego celebrates the first «Scudetto», the championship with Napoli in 1987.
Source: © DCM Film Distribution

He is only free on the pitch

Diego becomes Maradona, the icon, D10S. A football god surrounded by devils, ensnared by the Camorra and slipping into the life of a rock star. Drugs and loss of control included, it's an orgy in a golden cage. Only on the pitch is he freer than anyone else. Anyone who wants to keep him will be danced out. And if necessary, the "hand of God" helps. After the final whistle, he is once again a prisoner of his fame. Everyone tugs at him until he loses himself and his friends don't recognise him.

There's Diego - and then there's Maradona. I'd go to the ends of the earth for Diego, but I wouldn't take a single step for Maradona.

Fernando Signorini, Weggefährte und Berater Maradonas

Whoever sees the images from back then, genius and ecstasy condensed, can understand why it had to come to this. British director Asif Kapadia has not simply edited together another Maradona highlight film from a wealth of previously unknown material, but has also kept Diego, the man, in focus. After "Senna" and "Amy", "Diego Maradona" is Kapadia's third documentary film dedicated to an idol who met a tragic end. With the difference that Maradona is still alive. Unfortunately as a caricature of himself and as a memorial to his revenant Lionel Messi. It will be a good thing for Messi the man that he doesn't let anyone look into his soul. The Maradonas have always been an open book. You can view the risks and side effects in his new cinematic memorial.

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Cover picture: © DCM Film Distribution

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Michael Restin

Senior Editor

Michael.Restin@digitecgalaxus.ch

Simple writer and dad of two who likes to be on the move, wading through everyday family life. Juggling several balls, I'll occasionally drop one. It could be a ball, or a remark. Or both.

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