Diego Maradona
classified 12A PSPlease note: This was screened in July 2019
After providing the definitive portrait of motor racing star Ayrton Senna, director Asif Kapadia turns his focus onto another of South America’s most iconic sport stars with this stunning portrait of the controversial, yet sublimely talented, Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona.
Having never won a major tournament, ailing football giant Napoli football club had criminally underachieved. Their fanatical support was unequalled in both passion and size and none were more feared. But how they ached for success… Then on 5 July 1984, Diego Maradona arrived in Naples for a world-record fee and for seven years all hell broke loose. The world’s most celebrated football genius and the most dysfunctional city in Europe were a perfect match for each other and the charismatic Argentine quickly led Naples to their first-ever title. It was the stuff of dreams. But if Maradona was blessed on the field, he was cursed off it, and there was a price. Diego could do as he pleased whilst performing miracles on the pitch, but when the magic faded he became almost a prisoner in a city where the devil would have needed bodyguards.
Put together from 500 hours of never-before-seen footage, including from the Argentine player’s personal archive, this thrilling story of stardom and genius is a wild and unforgettable story of God-given talent, glory, despair, betrayal, corruption and, ultimately, redemption.