Asif Kapadia is mostly known for his documentary films SENNA, about Argentinian race car drive Ayrton Senna, and AMY, about Amy Winehose. DIEGO MARADONA works in a similar way as AMY: Kapadia is close to Maradona and his inner cicle and presents their views on things. Kapadia‘s thesis about Maradona is there‘s Diego, the nice boy from a very poor family who took care of his friends and family, and there‘s Maradona, an arrogant soccer God and love/hate object of the public who staggers into the valley of sin due to Diego‘s naivety and friendliness. Kapadia‘s film focuses on Maradona‘s years in SC Naples, undoubtedly the best period of Maradona‘s career. The format which Kapadia chooses, a chronological narrative of the greatest successes and scandals with a subsequent evaluation by Maradona and his loved ones, makes the storm of enthusiasm and anger surrounding Maradona clear. The soccer magic and charisma that Maradona exuded in the game can‘t be captured in the film. Of course there are Maradona‘s famous goals and dribbles, but the panic which an entire soccer team felt when Maradona might‘ve gotten a hold of the ball can‘t be conveyed in Kapadia‘s style. But for that there‘s FOOTBALL LIKE NEVER BEFORE (1970) about George Best and ZIDANE: A 20TH CENTURY PORTRAIT (2006) with players being filmed during an entire match. Kapadia‘s embedded filmmaking that‘s always about the close contact to his protagonists has other strengths: there are never-before-seen images and an intimate look into Maradona‘s self-image and environment. But you can‘t expect to find revelations in Kapadia‘s film, at least no explicit ones. DIEGO MARADONA is a film that knows it can‘t show everything and hints at a lot of things between the images and commentary.

Hannes Stein (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy