Christiano Ronaldo, love him or hate him there is no disputing the fact that he is probably one of the world’s greatest footballers of our time. Team him up with the makers behind documentaries ‘Senna’ and ‘Amy’ and you come up with another winning team.
Executive produced by Asif Kapadia and directed by Anthony Wonke, the film follows Ronaldo over the course of a year, 2014 to be precise. He has won the prestigious Balon d’Or award, finally dethroning Lionel Messi after his 4-year reign as the world’s greatest footballer. As he embarks on the most important year of his life he agrees to open the doors to his house and his personal life to the camera crew.
Straight away you can smell the money, his home is like a palatial palace and outside in the ‘Garage’ he has an abundance of flash cars. His vanity shines through and he is not ashamed of it. In his own words, it’s an essential part of his success and in a way you kind of understand that. However, the film isn’t all about his love for material things.
The one thing this film does is show a more human and sensitive side to the man so many adore, the love for his family and how much they mean to him. The most endearing is his relationship with his son, to say the least, he certainly is a doting father. He never reveals who the mother is of his son and states he wants to keep that private and explain to his son when he is older. We also witness him taking the boy to school like any normal parent and he lets his son believe he can teach him how to take a penalty. This is certainly a side to Ronaldo that will warm the heart of his fiercest critics.
Another thing we learn about Ronaldo, he likes to be alone, to shut out the world and detach himself from everything including the love of his life, Football. We see how devastated he was when Portugal went out of the World Cup and he just wanted to shut himself away, but even with his openness with some subjects he also remains very guarded about his family and especially his alcoholic Father and the relationship they didn’t really have.
Another shocking moment comes from his own Mother, whilst it’s absolutely clear she adores her baby boy and is immensely proud, she never wanted him and even considered having him aborted. Considering her lifestyle now she conveys exactly how thankful she never did as she states ‘everything we have is because of him’.
Whatever you say about Ronaldo this film shows that this usual man of ice and steel has worked hard to achieve his status, he has made sacrifices, suffered immense pain on and off the pitch and is truly dedicated to constantly improving his life. Ronaldo the film is certainly insightful, opinion changing and thoroughly enticing.
Ronaldo’ will be available to buy on digital download everywhere on 9th November, with the DVD and Blu-Ray available from 9th November, perfect timing for Christmas gift shopping!
