Given the clamour over Diego Maradona's tenure as Argentina manager it seems appropriate that the DVD release of the film Maradona [2009] by Emir Kusturica is dovetailed with what could be one of his last games in charge of the national team.
However, if you were expecting any kind of insight into Maradona as a coach, you won't find it here. In fact director Kusturica - who has won the Palme d'Or (an award for the best film at the Cannes Film Festival) twice - seems more concerned with cutting his other films into the action and making sure that he appears on screen at least as much as the Argentine legend.
Described by one reviewer as ''pure penis-envy cinema'', Kusturica's portrayal of one of the world's greatest players is limited in its depth. Large parts of Maradona's life are left out, with the director choosing to give airtime to his political views, repeated clips of his many goals (set to the unusual soundtrack of God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols) and an unpleasantly Python-esque cartoon skit where the No.10 baffles a selection of characters including Tony Blair, Prince Charles and George Bush.
Nothing is mentioned of his illegitimate son, his relationship with the Neapolitan mafia or anything about his career in Barcelona - save for a short clip where he is seen karate kicking his opponents in a mass brawl - and the content of the interviews is mostly just Kusturica laughing at his jokes and listening quietly while Maradona rants about his political ideology.
But once you realise that this film will not scratch the surface of his football career, you expect more in other areas. His battle with cocaine, his alcoholism and descent into obesity is all incredible material that deserves prolonged attention; but Kusturica appears to believe that focusing on it would sully his good name.
Instead, he focuses on his political beliefs and devotes the majority of the film to attempting to show how adored the former No.10 is in his homeland. Incorporating large chunks of the action from the poor souls at the "Church of Maradona" who have taken hero worship to an altogether different level, and filming crowd scenes which verge on full scale riots when Diego is in town.
In fact, one of the good points of the film comes from the unprecedented access that Kusturica is given, but he does not make enough of it. He follows Maradona from Buenos Aires to Naples, from Havana to Belgrade and there are some great behind-the-scenes shots of the Argentine. Still, you are left with the feeling that the pair (despite not speaking the same language) are just friends on a road trip and there is none of the tension that usually makes documentary films so compelling to watch.
Kusturica's opening ambition: to reveal the man behind the myth, ultimately comes up short. It doesn't really show us anything that we didn't already know and there is an overriding sense that the director has his own motives for wanting to avoid the interesting parts of his career.
At the end of the film, Maradona turns to the camera and laments: ''What a footballer we lost. If only I hadn't discovered cocaine.'' One might also feel similarly robbed by Kusturica, who had access that other film-makers could only dream about. He could have made a masterpiece if only he hadn't been so self-indulgent.
