Review-Pelé: Birth of a Legend

An thoughtful portrait of the rise of a soccer legend

A while back I posted a request for recommendations for films and promised to write reviews of them. This is my last review from the original request that I made back in May and came from

LONEWOLF

with the recommendation of the 2016 film Pelé: Birth of a Legend.

A young Pelé (Leonardo Lima Carvalho) shows off fancy footwork in the streets of São Paulo, Brazil.

Pelé is one of those people I’ve always heard of, but never really knew much about until watching this film. My father has told me the story many times of when he got to see Pelé play when he was with the New York Cosmos in the 1970s, and even today you can see his yellow and green #10 jerseys and t-shirts quite regularly. And of course a dramatic film like this certainly shouldn’t be taken as biographical gospel, but there was plenty here to pique my interest about the man.

The story starts in the poverty-stricken streets of São Paulo where we get to see a tremendous display of footwork from a young boy, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, who would later become known as Pelé. The film takes us through the trouble he faced as a young footballer, facing off against older white players and using the Brazilian style of play called “Ginga” to win against all odds. As he grows older, he is invited to try out for professional teams and eventually lands on the 1958 Brazilian World Cup team.

As the youngest player on the team, he is initially relegated to playing as a back-up, but is forced into the spotlight when a starter gets injured. He struggles to fit into the “modern” style of play being enforced by head coach Vicente Feola (Vincent D’Onofrio) and ends up getting injured himself during the tournament. When faced with a game against France in the semifinals, Pelé reverts to his more natural and flowing “ginga” style, to the tune of three goals in a win that vaulted the team to the final match.