PELÉ. Ambassador of Brazil on the Green Pitch

In 2020, Netflix celebrated a major success in sports documentaries with the miniseries The Last Dance. A year later, the streaming giant likely hoped to achieve a similar effect with the feature-length documentary Pelé, directed by David Tryhorn and Ben Nicholas. One thing can certainly be said about the documentary about the greatest footballer in history — it is the complete reverse of The Last Dance. Why? The miniseries about the Chicago Bulls was an excellent insight into the history of one of the most legendary teams in NBA history, but although it tried hard to give attention to all players, it was really all about Him — Michael Jordan. Pelé does the opposite — it starts with the concept of a documentary about one footballer, but manages to tell the story of an entire country and nation. Because the feature-length documentary, produced by Kevin Macdonald, only appears to focus on the main character — yes, we do learn a lot about Pelé, even the less flattering things, but ultimately this is not a story about a brilliant footballer, but about Brazil — a country that Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé, lifted with his talent in a way it had never experienced before. When Brazil’s team won its first World Cup in Sweden in 1958, Pelé was not yet 18 years old. He didn’t appear in the group stage matches, but when he entered in the knockout stage, he first scored the only goal in the quarterfinal against Wales, then delivered a hat-trick in the semifinal against France, and finally added two goals in the final against the hosts. Edson Arantes do Nascimento became Brazil’s top scorer in that tournament and a world champion at an age when he wouldn’t even be legally allowed to buy a beer! At that time, the current capital city, Brasília, was not yet on the map (it was built from scratch in 1960), and the world knew very little about the Coffee Country.

The triumph at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden was desperately needed by Brazilians, who were still mourning the painful loss to Uruguay in the 1950 final on home soil, and the elimination by Hungary at the Austrian World Cup four years later. Tryhorn and Nicholas’s documentary proves its greatest value not when it speaks about the main character, but when it shows the broader context — the impact of Pelé on the Brazilian nation, the political upheavals that coincided with the career of the great footballer, and the moments when Pelé (often due to injuries caused by brutal fouls) could not help the team on the field, yet still exerted influence. The filmmakers skillfully balance the biographical aspect of the documentary with its historiographical value.

Much like Alfonso Cuarón’s universally acclaimed Roma, Pelé tells a personal story of a great footballer not just set against the backdrop of major socio-political transformations, but inextricably intertwined with them. And although it’s a bit of a shame that the creators didn’t explore the controversial subject of Pelé’s relationship with the military dictatorship more deeply, this is certainly not one of those hagiographic biographies that are all too common in contemporary documentary cinema. A pleasant surprise is the fact that many of Pelé’s teammates from both club and national teams — including 1958 World Cup champion and 1970 championship-winning coach Mário Zagallo, agreed to participate in the project.

Their stories are a valuable complement not only to the main narrative about Edson Arantes do Nascimento, but also to the chapter of Brazilian history that they all helped write. Pelé is a documentary for football fans and for anyone fascinated by the history of South America — as incredible as it is turbulent.