Diego and Maradona: the man under the name. Cinematographic views on Diego Armando Maradona in the Netflix era

Abstract

Football is much more than a sport in our society, at least since the re-establishment of the Euro-Western enlightened project after World War II. Of all the most famous footballers in history, the figure of the Argentinean Diego Armando Maradona brings together, like no other, a plethora of controversies, milestones and narratives. All of this translates into a huge number of cinematographic proposals about him. From the perspective of film analysis, this paper aims to explore the figure of the Argentinean star in part of his filmography, pivoting around one axis: his person versus the media reconstruction of his character. Some of the conclusions are that his figure always appears elevated to a dichotomous state, like any fictional character, and that he is usually shown devoid of the deep politicised charge that his figure harbours.