The life and legend of Argentina soccer superstar and icon Diego Armando Maradona, who died at age 60 of heart failure last Wednesday, was portrayed on the big screen in both fiction films and documentaries, and he also participated in some movies.
In 1980, Maradona had a special cameo appearance in Palito Ortega’s 1980 music comedy My Family's Beautiful! / ¡Qué linda es mi familia! starring Luis Sandrini and Niní Marshall, which marked the last film for both popular actors.
Hero: The Official Film of the 1986 FIFA World Cup by British director Tony Maylam and narrated by Michael Caine, documented the soccer World Cup in Mexico of that year, highlighting the feats of Maradona, the captain of the Argentina team. It was during that world cup when Maradona scored a goal using his hand against England in the quarter finals at the Aztec Stadium in Mexico City and was known as “the hand of God,” after a phrase used by the Argentine soccer player to describe it.
In 1996 the Argentine superstar participated in Rodrigo Pagliere’s drama The Day Maradona Met Gardel / El día que Maradona conoció a Gardel, acting as himself. The film, starring Isidoro Chiodi, Alejandro Dolina, and Esther Goris, follows a young television editor who worships a soccer star and has a disquieting dream after falling asleep at his computer, in which Maradona meets the tango superstar Carlos Gardel. In 1999, Maradona reprised the role as himself in the Italian comedy Fans / Tifosi by Neri Parenti, featuring four different stories about soccer fans.
The 2005 documentary film Loving Maradona / Amando a Maradona by Javier Martín Vázquez is narrated by the idol himself and tells the controversial and dramatic story of the man who rose from the poverty of a Buenos Aires shantytown to sports star fame and fortune. The film offers an inside glimpse at the story behind Maradona's scandals, his seclusion in Cuba and devotion to his family, as well as amazing highlights from some of his best games.
One year later, director Carlos Sorín premiered The Road to San Diego / El camino a San Diego, an offbeat comedy about a young man who learns that soccer star Diego Maradona is ailing in a Buenos Aires hospital, and resolves to bring him a tree root he's discovered. The film was based on the period in which the star was hospitalized for heart problems, and thousands of people traveled to the hospital where he was being treated. The Road to San Diego was awarded with the Special Jury Prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival, and the Second Grand Coral Award at the Havana Film Festival
In 2007, Italian filmmaker Marco Risi directed the biopic Maradona, the Hand of God / Maradona, la mano de dios, starring Marco Leonardo as the Argentine superstar and Julieta Díaz as his wife Claudia Villafañe. The film recreated the life of Maradona, from his childhood up to his first heart attack, and his firm decision to overcome his ailments to arguably become soccer's greatest player.
In 2008 renowned Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica premiered the documentary film Maradona by Kusturica at the Cannes Film Festival. The film, featuring an original score by Manu Chao, is a celebration of the extraordinary history and phoenix-like resurrection of the sporting hero, people’s champion, fallen idol, and inspiration to millions.
Enjoying unprecedented access to the man himself, as well as to extensive archives, Kusturica takes the audience on an intimate whirlwind tour of places and people closest to this god of football. From Argentina to Naples, from Cuba to Barcelona; from family and childhood friends to fellow players and world leaders (Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales), Maradona traces the great man’s incredible story, from the humblest of beginnings to world-domination; from spectacular, tragic fall to glorious rebirth.
In 2013, Argentine directors Ezequiel Luka and Gabriel Amiel made the documentary The Other Maradona / El otro Maradona, telling the story of Goyo Carrizo, who was born in the same slum in Buenos Aires than Maradona, nine days before him. They both shared the passion of soccer in the pasture but they had different paths.
Italian filmmaker Alessio Maria Federici directed the 2017 documentary Maradonapoli, on Maradona's career in Naples, examining the lasting imprint he left on the city from the moment he arrived in 1984. Two years later Netflix debuted the docuseries Maradona in Sinaloa, directed and produced by Angus MacQueen, about the Argentine star arrival in Culiacán, Mexico, the heart of the Sinaloa Cartel, to save the local team, the Dorados.
More recently, British director Asif Kapadia, winner of an Oscar for his film about the singer Amy Winehouse) premiered the documentary film Diego Maradona at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. Using 500 hours of never-before-seen footage from Maradona’s personal archives, and decades-old news footage and interviews with historians and journalists, the film chronicles Maradona’s arrival to Naples on July 5, 1984, for a world-record fee. The charismatic Argentine was worshiped on and off the pitch and led Napoli to its first league title. The film recounts the miracles he performed on the field as darker days loomed ahead.
A new Amazon bio-series is in the works under the title of Maradona, sueño bendito directed by Alejandro Aimett and starring Juan Palomino, Nazareno Casero, Nicolás Goldschmidt, and Julieta Cardinali. The series, narrating the life of Maradona in different stages, will premiere in the coming months.
