Diego Maradona (2019)

Review

This documentary fast-tracks the early part of the legendary footballer Diego Maradona’s career until the point when he arrives in Naples and signs for S.S.C. Napoli for a world-record fee in 1984. This is where Maradona’s football goes from promising to world-class, and where his life goes from that of a public figure to utterly wild, and eventually out of control. For football fans and lovers of classically structured sports documentaries, Diego Maradona may be a little bit too focused on certain aspects of Maradona’s career and life, but writer/director Asif Kapadia really wants to – and does – shed light on one of the most discussed and controversial sides to this story, namely the Argentine football star’s connection to Naples’ crime syndicate Camorra. Maradona himself comes off as both strong and weak, driven and unfocused, loving and selfish – in other words a complex, conflicted character. And as such, the film probably does him justice. It’s a captivating story which is well structured and told by Kapadia.