Maradona documentary delights Belgrade audience

MaradonaBelgrade - The long awaited documentary "Maradona" by award winning Serbian director Emir Kusturica delighted the crowds at Belgrade's International Film Festival, in a country that mostly shares the anti-Western sentiments with the famous footballer.

The "hand of God" England versus Argentina match dominates the documentary, which premiered on Tuesday night in a packed Belgrade cinema, and serves as a platform to the "anti-imperialist" political views of both Maradona and Kusturica.

The viewers were mostly amused and entertained by the documentary, but some complained at the lack of more biographic data.

"It was fun, I especially liked the Church of Maradona part in the movie," said Vladimir after the premier of the documentary. One of his friends however complained that it lacked any biographical weight.

"Its like a sweetened biopic without the embarrassing moments such as his ties with the mafia or his heroin addiction. I expected more, but it was fun nevertheless. I especially liked the cartoon moments in the movie," said Nikola Mijalkovski.

As Kusturica, a two time Palme D'or winner, himself pointed out earlier that the movie is a documentary about Maradona as the director sees him and not a detailed autobiography.

The most poignant moment in the documentary, for the Belgrade audience, was the Church of Maradona and its teachings that revolve around the footballer and to be baptised one has to score "a hand of God" goal.

Another highlight of the movie were the cartoon parts with Maradona outplaying British and US officials like Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Queen Elizabeth or George Bush and scoring the "goal of the century."

The Maradona documentary was not the only reference to Argentina during 37th Belgrade International Film Festival. The entire program dedicated to the "new Argentina movie" was prepared for the festival with films such as Acne, Liverpool, A week alone or Salamander.

The 10-day film festival closes on March 1. (dpa)

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