The Curzon Sheffield was an appropriate place to watch the film ‘Diego Maradona’ with it being opposite the Cutlers Hotel Sheffield the birthplace of the oldest football team in the world.
‘Diego Maradona’ is a film directed by Asif Kapadia, who also directed Oscar-winner ‘Amy’ and Bafta-winning ‘Senna’.
The film has been possible due to the use of over 500 hours of previously unseen footage about his life but majorly centring on Maradona’s time at Napoli. This was after a career in Argentina and a time at Barcelona.
My view of Diego Maradona has always been coloured by the Xenophobia surrounding him whipped up by some elements of the press due to ‘The hand of God’ incident’ and the preceding Falklands War: Xenophobia is the fear or hatred of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange – taken from Wikipedia.
Maradona was a genius, cheat, god, fallen idol, drug addict, driven and committed, a family man and a man who refused to recognise the birth of a son (he finally did meet and endorse him in 2016). There are many more adjectives to describe him but his personal coach who kept him trained (achieving unbelievable athleticism even with a non conforming life style) describes him as being two people, the boyish lovely Diego and the driven Maradona who had to portray a strong outer shell to the world and not let them get to him.
I have changed my view of him as a footballer and believe he was the most talented player ever. How did he put up with and ride such aggressive tackles and then turn, swerve, run and still have the vision to make the telling pass or shot on goal that led to Argentina winning the World Cup and previously unsuccessful Napoli becoming the greatest team in the world.
The films director can be proud of what he has achieved joining endless clips into a seamless technically brilliant film which is not compromised by the sub tittles in any way. Some footage is switched to black and white and the music is both haunting and uplifting. The outstanding feature of the film is how it captures all of the emotions of the time, situation and outcomes.
Postscript: Taken from the ‘Mirror’ on line https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/peter-shilton-swerves-new-maradona-16508773
Tom Bryant Head Of Showbiz 19:07, 12 JUN 2019
‘Footie legend Peter Shilton gave the premiere of a new documentary about Diego Maradona a straight red card. The goalie, who the cheating Argentinian scored his infamous Hand of God goal against at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, boycotted the event along with other former England stars from the campaign
The 69-year-old has previously slammed Maradona for his failure to apologise for his appalling sportsmanship and posted of the premiere: “I declined the invitation along with several England ex-players.” He later told the Mirror: “I’ve got more important things to do… like playing darts “.
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