Maradona By Kusturica is a documentary about Argentinean soccer star Diego Maradona, regarded by many as the world's greatest modern player. It's also an homage to socialism and anti-imperialism.

Diego Armando Maradona on the soccer field was an exeptional phenomenon. His outrageous ball technique made him one of the best soccer players in history. Under his team leadership the Argentinians won the World Soccer Championship 1986 in Mexico, thanks to his infamous “hand of God” goal against England in the quarter final.

Maradona off the soccer field made headlines with excessive cocaine parties, alcoholism and his anti-imperialist agenda. This made him kind of a mascot for the protagonists of “socialism of the 21st century” presenting himself side by side with Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales and later Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica´s uncritical eye makes this film a glorification of a man who wasn´t made for the world off the soccer field. Kusturica allows Maradona to present himself as the hero he never was. Maradona beat his wife and cheated on her several times. Yet, in this movie he is shown as a revolutionary rebel fighter against the bad imperialists.

Kusturica said about his movie it was “more than my political orientation. It is the common perspective of all Third-World countries”.

Niklas Anzinger is a Contributing Writer for The Propagandist