Pelé-Birth of a Legend, Review: Exciting draw

Whenever a football match begins, all three possibilities are in place: a win for side A, a win for side B or a draw. Wins are exciting, draws not really the desirable result, in the high voltage sport, the most popular game in the world. Pelé-Birth of a Legend, a docu-feature on the Pérola Negra (Black Pearl) of Brazil, promises a lot, delivers much less and results in a draw. To be fair, it is not a tame, goalless draw, but a game that has its moments, scores some goals, and yet leaves you only partially satisfied.

The film restricts itself to about 10 years in the life of the football legend, from his nascent steps to his incredible emergence on the world stage. Edson Arantes ‘Dico’ Nascimento and friends constituted a ragtag team called ‘the shoeless ones’, playing football in the streets and on the rooftops of the local shanty neighbourhood. The name Pelé emerged in school, where he used to pronounce the name of the local Vasco da Gama goalkeeper Bile, one of his idols, as “Pile”. Hence, a classmate of his gave him the sound-alike nickname, Pele. At least that is one version. His father, a former football player, was forced to eke out a living as a toilet cleaner, and his mother too was forced to take on a similar job. She did not appreciate football, since it was a football injury that resulted in bad times for her husband.

Waldemar de Brito, a black talent scout for the famous Santos Football Club, witnessed a game in which Dico displayed his prowess, and offered to recruit him, but his mother would have none of it. When she finally relented, the pathways opened up for the 16 year-old. De Brito explained to him that his raw style could be traced to ‘ginga’--the spirit that flows through the Brazilian martial art of ‘capoeira’, a self-defence practice created by African slaves that was disguised as a dance. Many of the slaves had escaped from their Portuguese masters and hid in the mountainous forest regions. It was there that they developed capoeira. His coach at Santos, Feora, who, like most Brazilians, believed that the humiliating 1950 World Cup loss to Uruguay in the Maracana stadium, was caused by wild, undisciplined football, typified by ginga, tried very hard to get him out of his groove, but ultimately realised that it was a potential weapon that opponents would be unable to counter. The rest is record-breaking football history (read below).

Before the end credits roll, we are reminded that Pele's father once scored five header goals in one game, a feat that Pele was never able to replicate. The most headers Pele ever scored in a game was four.

Brothers Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, known for their Brazil/football-based documentaries Favela Rising and The Two Escobars, have written and directed the biopic, shot entirely in Brazil, with some arresting camerawork by Mathhew Libatique. The early part of the film is slickly edited, credits going to Luis Carballar, Naomi Geraghty, Glen Scantlebury. Kudos to A.R. Rehman, for infusing the right pace and ambience, and eschewing familiar orchestration ploys, for most of the film. For the most part, the narrative follows traditional, familiar and formulaic patterns. A black man in Brazil has to give up football and live in abject poverty; his son takes-up football but has to face humiliation; he is discovered by a talent scout; the coach tries to change his playing style, but fails; he gets severely injured and is dropped from the team; he gets a freak break that gives him a chance to display his uncouth genius; he vindicates his family and his race. Alright, sounds clichéd, but what if it is true? Well, you need to make adaptations and use cinematic licence. That is what they are for. That is what is called screenplay.

Some interesting and heart-warming moments are related to peanuts and mangoes, with the screen time given to the latter equivalent to at least a dozen Alphonsos. We hear a lot about the great humiliation suffered by Brazil at the 1940 World Cup, and that act is a major force in driving the passions and policies of football there, but it is never detailed or explained.

Leonardo Lima Carvalho and Kevin de Paula were cast and the younger and older Pelé following an extensive nationwide search. Both have done a commendable job. Tour de force performances come from Seu Jorge (Seu is abbreviation of Senhor, real-name Jorge Mário da Silva; Brazilian singer, adapted David Bowie’s songs in Portuguese; City of God, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou) who plays the father, ‘Dondinho’ João Ramos and Maria Nunes (Blaxploitation: The Black Queen, The Other Side of Paradise, Maresia) as the mother, Celeste Arantes. Both just had to be Brazilian, and are. Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (57, looks it, American actor, producer, and singer; Full Metal Jacket, Men in Black, Jurassic World) plays coach Feola, like a stock character, but with the right accent (most voices are dubbed). Rodrigo Junqueira dos Reis Santoro (Brazilian; Love Actually, 300, 300: Rise of an Empire) impresses with his voice-overs. Don’t miss the cameo by the then 73 year-old Pele himself, seated at a restaurant table, while his younger self runs riot, toppling his milk.  

Shot over eight weeks in 2013, it could not be released in time for the FIFA World Cup 2014, the targeted date, and comes to screens in India some two years later. India is not a football nation, cricket being the fan game and hickey the official sport. Nevertheless, football mania has been catching on in the last two decades, with Goa and Kolkata being major centres. Pelé-Birth of a Legend might perform better at the box office in foot-balling pockets, but might only manage a yellow card elsewhere.

Rating: ** ½

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcN8ZmYyJVY

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Pelé

Born in 1940, in Três Corações, Pelé played professionally in Brazil for two decades, winning three World Cups, after which he joined the New York Cosmos. He was named after Thomas Edison, and his nickname was Dico. Pelé’s family moved to the city of Bauru while he was still a young boy.

His father, a great footballer, João Ramos, better known as Dondinho, struggled to earn a living as a soccer player, and gave up soccer after an injury. He was forced to earn a living by cleaning toilets. Pelé developed a rudimentary talent for soccer by kicking a rolled-up sock stuffed with rags around the streets of Bauru.

As an adolescent, Pelé joined a youth football squad, coached by Waldemar de Brito, a great forward himself and a former member of the Brazilian national soccer team, later a Talent Scout for Santos Football Club. De Brito eventually convinced Pelé's family to let the budding phenomenon leave home and try out for the Santos professional soccer club, when he was 15. He scored four goals on his league debut in a match against FC Corinthians on September 7, 1956.

He scored the first professional goal of his career before he turned 16, led the league in goals in his first full season and consequently was recruited to play for the Brazilian national team.

In the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, the 17-year-old, nursing a badly injured leg, scored three goals in a 5-2 semi-final win over France, then netted two more in the finals, a 5-2 dramatic upset win over the favourites, the host country.

Pelé was named FIFA's Player of the Century in 1999, an honour he shared with Argentinean legend Diego Maradona.