Maradona: The Hand of God (2007)

‘Maradona: the hand of God’ (2007) in under 2 hours

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Right now, Amazon is showing Season 1 of Maradona Sueno Bendito, a 10-episode compilation of “sex, drugs, and historic goals”. While waiting for that serie’s episodes to appear, I supplemented my viewing with this similarly-themed feature film, which was produced in Italy and released in 2007.

The two productions are so remarkably similar that I am probably getting my reactions mixed up. So, let’s be quick.

If you want to see a dramatization of Maradona’s life, but don’t want to spend 10-12 hours doing so, you could easily settle for this feature film version, Maradona: the hand of God, by Director Marco Risi.

Both productions center around Maradona’s hospitalization in Uruguay in 2000, looking backward to see how he came to that critical condition and the most eventful times of his life. For example, Risi often revisits Maradona’s childhood fall into a cesspool, perhaps as a metaphor or predictor of the boy’s life.

The soccer

Both versions have quite a bit of footage from Maradona’s best gaming moments. The actors who portray Maradona look quite similar to the real thing and convey Diego’s energy on the pitch. It appears that Marco Leonardi has some skills, as does the child actor playing young Maradona.

Given the age and Italian origin of the film, I could not discover much about its production. In 2005, Director Risi said he had Maradona’s approval to make the film. Perhaps the interest at that time was related to intense public speculation about Maradona’s health and his falsely-reported death.

In a way, both productions regardless of length leave the same questions. I never understood why Diego stuck with Claudia or why she stuck with him despite all his cheating. What happened to his friend and agent Jorge Cyerszpiler? Watching these films is watching Diego Maradona self-destruct without really understanding why.

For another Maradona film, check out Asif Kapida’s version. All my Maradona movie reviews are here.

6 Soccer Movie Mom Rating = 6

Resources:

  • Released: 2007-03-30 (Italy)
  • In Italian with English sub-titles
  • Original title is Maradona, la Mano de Dios
  • 1 hour 53 minutes
  • I watched this on Amazon Prime
  • IMDB
  • Director: Marco Risi
  • Stars: Marco Leonardi
  • Watch the Trailer