I took a trip to our local Arts Centre last night to watch this film which has been given a fair bit of publicity recently , including apparently Breakfast television. It was made by the same guy who made the films Senna and Amy(Winehouse). The film mainly concentrates on the period when he left Argentina to make his fortune at the Nou Camp then Napoli where he was up there alongside God in the rankings. This period included the Falklands and the infamous hand of god , for which I hated him for cheating in every sense. He really could have been up there with Pele as the talent he had was never in doubt. Unfortunately his rapid success also led to his rapid descent especially when he helped Argentina beat Italy in the World Cup . A game which was played at Napoli’s stadium no less. Some cock up that was. From that moment on the whole of Italy was against him. He was brilliant on the field no doubt, even helping Napoli rise from obscurity to Serie A and UEFA Cup champions. No mean feat for one of the poorest clubs in one of the poorest cities in Italy at the time. Throw in his association with Italian gangsters and a pregnancy with another woman which he only owned up to 30 years later and it appears there was never a dull moment. Did I feel sorry for him? No. Like lots of other high ranking sportsmen, it appears he couln’t Cope with the pressures that life brought with the success he obtained along the way.
Go and see it if you can. Don’t wait for it to come out on DVD. You’ll be sending me messages to thank me. It really is an excellent way to spend two hours and ten minutes.