By Alexia Evripidou
Pelé: Birth of a Legend: just the title sets the film up for a steep challenge. Any biographical attempt to capture the life, high, lows, failures and successes of any living legend, let alone the football marvel that is Pelé, has its work cut out for it. And although the film far from disappoints, it is not the ‘Ginga’ beauty that this tribute deserves to be. A little harsh? maybe, especially considering that it is a very well made and interesting movie but let’s remember, that the stakes are high and so therefore are expectations.
The cinematography is simply beautiful, the vintage feel is glossy and atmospheric, the football playing inspirational (despite it being re-enacted,), the motivational sport clichés a plenty. On top of that, there are many emotional journies following the narrative where one can hear ‘Brazil ole’ chanting in one’s head. Still the film wavers on the edge of becoming yet another motivational cliché sports film. There are parts where viewers could be forgiven for expecting Yoda (from Star Wars) to appear and tell the young Pelé to ‘use the Ginga style Pelé, use the Ginga!’ (Ginga style is a term that is referred to several times throughout the film and as explained by the character De Brito – the talent scout who found Pelé – is a primitive style of football played with a rich history in slavery, Capoeira and instinct.)
Pelé was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento in 1940 to a Black Brazilian family. At the tender age of 17 he became the first and youngest player to play and score a goal in the World Cup (1958) and he is widely regarded as the greatest player of all time. In 1999, Pelé was elected Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee and was also voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). According to the IFFHS, ‘Pelé is the most successful league goal-scorer in the world, with 541 league goals. During his career, Pelé scored 1,281 goals in 1,363 games;’ hence, a sports legend!
The film, from writers-directors Jeff and Mike Zimbalist, is based on Pelé’s sensational rise from the slums of Sao Paulo into football stardom. Under guidance from manager Vicente Feola (Vincent D’Onofrio), young Pelé (Kevin de Paula) uses his natural Ginga style football skills to lead Brazil to their first ever World Cup victory in 1958.
The film chronicles his football artistry and life through visually stylised moving imagery. The editorial use of interlacing slow and fast forward play throughout various parts of the film, especially during the football matches, really works to heighten the emotional experience of his journey. There is even a screen cameo by Pelé himself, which will delight his fans, however with such a rich a story to tell about talent, race issues and poverty, it’s a real shame that the film fell heavily on the reliance on sports clichés, which were not even done that well. Painful clichés about ‘trusting yourself, its ok to be different; that’s what makes us special and ignore the heckling; believe in you’ were woven in more as a compulsory yet regrettable addition rather than important aspects of the film; which they actually are to both Pelé’s own personal journey and the film itself. Arguably therefore, they could have been dealt with with the same style and finesse as other components of the film.
Still, this biographical drama is definitely worth watching and will leave you feeling satiated. There is a precious scene in the hotel where the young Pelé tries to lift the team’s deflated spirit during the 1958 final with Sweden, getting the team to play football throughout the grounds of the hotel (including breakfast room, kitchens, pool etc; it’s great). There’s also a moving speech by manager Feola when the smart and brutal Sweden team (unstoppable winners) verbally attacked Brazil (the underdogs) in the press conference for being ‘disorganised and abnormal’. Some Brazil players had mangled hands, fingers missing and were colour blind, here, Feola tells his team: “we may not all play the same and we sure don’t all look the same like the Swedish team, but we all have one thing in the common, the Ginga; the joy and expression of Brazilians. We may not win but we will show them a ‘beautiful game’.” The rest, as they say… is history!
Pelé: Birth of a Legend
DIRECTED BY Jeff & Michael Zimbalist
STARRING Vincent D’Onofrio, Rodrigo Santoro, Diego Boneta
2016 USA 107 mins
