Genre
Biography | Drama | Sport
Directors
Jeff Zimbalist | Michael Zimbalist
Country
USA
Cast
Kevin de Paula, Leonardo Lima Carvalho, Vincent D'Onofrio, Rodrigo Santoro, Diego Boneta, Colm Meaney, Vivi Devereaux
Storyline
The chronicle of Pele's (Kevin de Paula, Leonardo Lima Carvalho) meteoric rise from the slums of Sao Paulo to leading Brazil to its first World Cup victory at the age of 17.
Opinion
Pelé is a football legend, I am a huge football fan so I could not miss this film. For sure reason I wasn't sure what to expect from it, yet it managed to leave me feeling tremendously disappointed by it.
Even though Pelé is the executive producer of it, "Pelé: Birth of a Legend" isn't the tribute such a legend deserves.
Sure the intentions of the Zimbalist brothers are quite noble, I mean, bringing to the big screen a coming-of-age story about Pelé. But the task was quite hard because of the subject and they didn't handled it properly.
The story is what it is, but the film brings it to the screen with no personality whatsoever, and completely forgets that it isn't just a victory for a man, but for all the Brazilian people as well. The film drowns in bland and predictable dialogue - and it did really bother me the fact that the film was in English. I would have prefered it to be in Portuguese with subtitles.
The cinematography is quite beautiful, but there are some scenes - like the young Pelé using fruits to play football because he couldn't afford a ball - looks more like an advertising campaign than sequences from a movie.
Noteworthy is the insistence of the filmmakers on some values such as tenacity in pursuing goals and never giving up, and staying true of oneself and to one's traditions.
In spite of all of its flaws, "Pelé: Birth of a Legend" still manages to be watchable.
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