6to Festival International de Cine Contemporaneo de la Ciudad de Mexico: Maradona by Kusturica (Emir Kusturica, 2008)
* 23/02/09 *
Two days ago was the first Saturday of FICCO and a free screening was programmed at the Zocalo of Mexico City: Maradona by Kusturica. I saw this film for the very first time on DVD exactly the same Saturday in which I saw Steven Soderbergh's The Argentine so that day I had a "revolutionary" Saturday, with two Argentineans and with Fidel Castro in both films. Last Saturday I went to the Zocalo, it was a really good number of people in the audience and for sure some persons wearing Maradona shirts.
I love football and if you ask me who is the greatest football player of all time you will not hear Pele or any other name, either you hear Diego or Maradona or Pelusa or simply God. And that's a fact, and sure Pele is the king but Maradona is God and sure there are many people that are anti-Maradona but I doubt if those haters can stop looking at Diego playing. So I saw for the first time a film standing, in the Zocalo and of the FICCO, and I'm very very glad I came, I knew the film certainly and it was great to watch it on a big screen, it was great just to watch it again. When I first saw it back in January of course I knew pretty much everything about Maradona, certainly you don't have to know a lot about Diego to enjoy this film but for fans this is just a must-see.
The God, the Bad and the Ugly, unforgettable and wonderful score, we hear part of the main theme, Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra (I really liked Super 8 Stories, recommend also), played and there Emir was introduced as the Maradona of cinema, later on Kusturica will mention both Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah, for him at the time when he meet Maradona this looked like a character from a Sergio Leone or Sam Peckinpah film or like from the Mexican Revolution, almost impossible to think that he played football like God. Here we have a recovered Maradona, talking about his drug addiction, about his regrets, about those birthdays in which he was not with his daughters Dalma and Giannina, about the player that he could have been if only he had stayed out of the drugs, about the player that we all lose. Probably the most touching and memorable moment of this film is when Diego sings what for me is the very best of the songs composed to him, the song by Rodrigo, the song "La mano de Dios". Here Maradona sings it in first person and at one point during the performance he ask to his daughters to join him, that moment is really memorable, after the worst Diego was finally there to enjoy his family. We can hear other of those Maradona songs, we see here Manu Chao (another memorable part) and we can hear the song "Para Siempre Diego" at a bar, a bar that functions as sponsor or something like that for the Iglesia Maradoniana (the Maradonian Church). The stuff with the members of the Maradonian Church is simply fantastic (I knew about its existence yet this was the first time I actually saw stuff of the Maradonian Church), if you get married by that church you have to add the name Diego to your name and not only the husband but also the wife! And their Lord's Prayer! A lot of fun, and certainly just a proof of that, infinite, love to Diego.
As I guess you know unlike Pele Maradona does played for European teams, he played for one of the greatest teams not only of Spain but of the world, FC Barcelona and for sure he had great games (here Maradona travels to Belgrade, he meet Kusturica's son (is really fantastic when Kusturica's son says something like "I never wear a shirt before but today I'm going to meet God") and more familiars of Emir, including his wife and his grandson who for Maradona has legs of a football player. Will be certainly unforgettable for Emir the fact that Maradona was the last person who spoke with his mother before she passed away. Also during this trip Emir takes Diego to the Stadion Crvena Zvezda, home of the football club Red Star Belgrade, certainly that football-related stuff can't missed but is very special since Kusturica suffered a really great goal of Maradona while he was playing for FC Barcelona and here Kusturica indicates to Diego to which goal he shoot that day, also Kusturica show us his abilities to dominate the ball, he is pretty good actually) but nothing like those from his times in Italy, in the South of Italy, in Napoles. The only way to defeat a great power, football and Argentina won that football war against England in 1986 and a team from the South of Italy came to not only defeat but to humiliate a Northern team when Maradona leaded Napoli but certainly not only that: 2 Scudettos, the first one was not only the first Scudetto for Napoli but also for any Southern team, 1 Coppa Italia, 1 Suppercoppa Italiana and the first major European title, the UEFA Cup. Here we can the return of Maradona to Napoles and you can imagine the people, there's only one thing to do when Maradona is present and here we can how even Hugo Chavez jumps and stuff. "Stop Bush" says a t-shirt of Diego, the Sex Pistol of football and yes Sex Pistols' music is here, only one song (God Save the Queen) and we hear it each time we are just mesmerized by the playing of Diego, all certainly lead us to the masterpiece of Diego, the goal of the century. I think even the British has to celebrate.
* 23/02/09 *
Two days ago was the first Saturday of FICCO and a free screening was programmed at the Zocalo of Mexico City: Maradona by Kusturica. I saw this film for the very first time on DVD exactly the same Saturday in which I saw Steven Soderbergh's The Argentine so that day I had a "revolutionary" Saturday, with two Argentineans and with Fidel Castro in both films. Last Saturday I went to the Zocalo, it was a really good number of people in the audience and for sure some persons wearing Maradona shirts.
I love football and if you ask me who is the greatest football player of all time you will not hear Pele or any other name, either you hear Diego or Maradona or Pelusa or simply God. And that's a fact, and sure Pele is the king but Maradona is God and sure there are many people that are anti-Maradona but I doubt if those haters can stop looking at Diego playing. So I saw for the first time a film standing, in the Zocalo and of the FICCO, and I'm very very glad I came, I knew the film certainly and it was great to watch it on a big screen, it was great just to watch it again. When I first saw it back in January of course I knew pretty much everything about Maradona, certainly you don't have to know a lot about Diego to enjoy this film but for fans this is just a must-see.
The God, the Bad and the Ugly, unforgettable and wonderful score, we hear part of the main theme, Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra (I really liked Super 8 Stories, recommend also), played and there Emir was introduced as the Maradona of cinema, later on Kusturica will mention both Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah, for him at the time when he meet Maradona this looked like a character from a Sergio Leone or Sam Peckinpah film or like from the Mexican Revolution, almost impossible to think that he played football like God. Here we have a recovered Maradona, talking about his drug addiction, about his regrets, about those birthdays in which he was not with his daughters Dalma and Giannina, about the player that he could have been if only he had stayed out of the drugs, about the player that we all lose. Probably the most touching and memorable moment of this film is when Diego sings what for me is the very best of the songs composed to him, the song by Rodrigo, the song "La mano de Dios". Here Maradona sings it in first person and at one point during the performance he ask to his daughters to join him, that moment is really memorable, after the worst Diego was finally there to enjoy his family. We can hear other of those Maradona songs, we see here Manu Chao (another memorable part) and we can hear the song "Para Siempre Diego" at a bar, a bar that functions as sponsor or something like that for the Iglesia Maradoniana (the Maradonian Church). The stuff with the members of the Maradonian Church is simply fantastic (I knew about its existence yet this was the first time I actually saw stuff of the Maradonian Church), if you get married by that church you have to add the name Diego to your name and not only the husband but also the wife! And their Lord's Prayer! A lot of fun, and certainly just a proof of that, infinite, love to Diego.
As I guess you know unlike Pele Maradona does played for European teams, he played for one of the greatest teams not only of Spain but of the world, FC Barcelona and for sure he had great games (here Maradona travels to Belgrade, he meet Kusturica's son (is really fantastic when Kusturica's son says something like "I never wear a shirt before but today I'm going to meet God") and more familiars of Emir, including his wife and his grandson who for Maradona has legs of a football player. Will be certainly unforgettable for Emir the fact that Maradona was the last person who spoke with his mother before she passed away. Also during this trip Emir takes Diego to the Stadion Crvena Zvezda, home of the football club Red Star Belgrade, certainly that football-related stuff can't missed but is very special since Kusturica suffered a really great goal of Maradona while he was playing for FC Barcelona and here Kusturica indicates to Diego to which goal he shoot that day, also Kusturica show us his abilities to dominate the ball, he is pretty good actually) but nothing like those from his times in Italy, in the South of Italy, in Napoles. The only way to defeat a great power, football and Argentina won that football war against England in 1986 and a team from the South of Italy came to not only defeat but to humiliate a Northern team when Maradona leaded Napoli but certainly not only that: 2 Scudettos, the first one was not only the first Scudetto for Napoli but also for any Southern team, 1 Coppa Italia, 1 Suppercoppa Italiana and the first major European title, the UEFA Cup. Here we can the return of Maradona to Napoles and you can imagine the people, there's only one thing to do when Maradona is present and here we can how even Hugo Chavez jumps and stuff. "Stop Bush" says a t-shirt of Diego, the Sex Pistol of football and yes Sex Pistols' music is here, only one song (God Save the Queen) and we hear it each time we are just mesmerized by the playing of Diego, all certainly lead us to the masterpiece of Diego, the goal of the century. I think even the British has to celebrate.