There is something fascinating about a flawed genius.
One so supremely talented you are compelled to watch, but the surrounding narrative of their often self-inflicted downfall is also one that makes for compulsive viewing.
It is an almost perverse mix of the highest high, and the lowest of lows, that quite often leaves us breathless, but also wondering what might have been.
There may not be another footballer, past or present, who encapsulates this quite as much as Diego Armando Maradona.
A prodigious talent who climbed to the pinnacle of the game, only to fall on more than one occasion.
It is a story well told. Or at least we thought it was.
Diego Maradona, the film, takes us on a journey very few will have seen. Sifting through more than 400 hours of unseen footage, the film, narrated by Maradona himself, takes us to peaks and depths very few will have seen.
It is a visual masterpiece, and raw at its core.
This is a work that doesn’t demand prior footballing knowledge as the character is so great it demands your attention and engagement.
For those with the background on the Argentinian it is a wonderful eye opener on a time of his life when he was at the peak of his powers.
Focusing primarily on his time in Italy with Napoli, we see the hero-worship that was offered him, through to the dramatic change in fortunes following his 1990 World Cup campaign with Argentina.
It is all in here – his impact on and off the field in Naples, relationship turmoil, the mob – the adulation, the despair, and also those parts that go into forming the emotional roller-coaster of one of football’s great icons.
The pace is rapid – as was his lifestyle – but the story spellbinding. It is hard not to feel a huge amount of empathy for him as a footballer, and character.
With that focus on the Italian years of his career, some things do fall by the wayside – his early career and the World Cups of 82 and 94 could probably make feature films of their own, and the conclusion does feel a little abrupt.
But this almost mirrors the way in which Maradona’s career has gone, ultimately you are presented with a piece of absolute majesty, but somehow are yearning for even more at the end.
Art reflecting life, in the finest of ways.
You can watch Diego Maradona exclusively on OSN, an exclusive in the region.
For more information see https://www.osn.com/en-ae/home
