Maradona

Even today, Diego Armando Maradona Franco, Maradona for short (1960-2020), is considered by many soccer fans to be the best soccer player of all time. A prodigy who won all kinds of cups and national championships in Argentina, Spain and Italy, as well as becoming world champion in 1986 with the Argentine national team and runner-up in 1990. But victories interest director Emir Kusturica only marginally: Maradona, for him, is above all a revolutionary. The life story of the Argentine soccer legend includes a stellar career on the sports field, but also consists of drug excesses and personal defeats. Kusturica says, "I come from one of the 24 countries that was bombed by America after 1954, Serbia. If you say 'Don't drop bombs on our country,' then you are a nationalist. This film is more than my political views. It shows the common understanding of the Third World countries. When I identified with Diego's political stance in the film, I discovered the common sense. My own political statements are stronger, they are unspoken. It was very healing for me to make the film with Diego - with his view of things and his resistance. It was - like finding a good friend. I don't know if I had one like that before." (by Barbara Mayr/Filmreporter.de) "Maradona" is not a classic documentary, not a linearly told heroic epic. Kusturica travels to the most important places in Maradona's life, visiting Larús, a run-down neighborhood south of Buenos Aires, where Maradona was born in 1960, grew up and already had only two dreams as a ten-year-old: "My first dream is to play in the World Cup, and my second is to win it."