As reflected in this blog, I haven't been making much time for movies lately. Fortunately, my dad invited me to a Latin American film festival, which started yesterday (perhaps in honor of Mexican Independence Day). I picked one of the more popular entries, with little regard for the subject or genre.
This is the first documentary I've known to be based on a book. The title refers to a 1986 FIFA World Cup match in Mexico, remembered chiefly for two goals against England by Argentina's Diego Maradona, one spectacular and one controversial. Of course, you can't really spend 91 minutes (about the length of the match) talking about just that, so we get a lot of historical background about the heated rivalry between the two teams, followed by the aftermath.
Having seen The Iron Lady, I could guess the principal source of that rivalry: the Falklands War four years earlier. Politics aside, there was also a lot of Argentine resentment over a disputed English victory at the '66 cup. I read that the players and fans didn't act much nicer this year.
I pay too little attention to soccer to have already known about "the hand of God," but I have known since childhood that only goalies may touch the ball with their hands. Maradona used his hand just subtly enough to fool officials but not a majority of viewers, and he wouldn't admit it until 2005. My legalist mind balks at all the celebration thereof, no matter how the crowd might have reacted if Tunisian referee Ali Ben Hasser had ruled properly. Nonetheless, it's only a game, and maybe Argentines needed the morale more than Brits then.
The doc includes interview and TV/radio clips in both English and Spanish. Some of the English is so faint or heavily accented that I half-wished that it got subtitles as well. My dad worried that some Spanish would go untranslated, but it didn't.
The theater was packed, partly with people in jerseys. Many applauded footage of the two goals, which struck me funny until I realized how avid they'd be if the match were new. I was less amused by many lines that drew laughs from others; either my attention flagged, or it's really not my scene.
Not to say I got bored. Director-writers Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco do a pretty good job at making an engaging presentation, whether in color or black and white. I did learn a few facts worth remembering.
If I of all people don't feel like I wasted my time with TM, then probably neither will you. And maybe you too will find it in a venue with Malbec at the reception.
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