Maradona Welcomes Divine Intervention In 'The Hand of God'
Photo courtesy of Netflix
(REVIEW) A new coming of age movie, “The Hand of God,” explores family, grief and growing up — all in the orbit of Diego Maradona, an Argentine still revered by some as the best soccer player of all time.
Maradona sets the message of the movie early on with a quote that flashes at the opening: “I did what I could. I don’t think I did so badly.”
In Naples in the 1980s, protagonist Fabietto dreams of becoming a filmmaker and deeply admires Maradona, who joins Napoli’s team in 1984 and leads Napoli to its first Italian league title in 1987, followed by a second in 1990.
Fabietto has close relationships with his family members, particularly his mother and father, but no true friends. He’s given season tickets for Napoli for his birthday, and his attendance at games gives him a sense of belonging and a chance at making real friends.
The movie is named after Maradona and one of soccer history’s most famous and controversial goals. In the Argentina v. England quarterfinals of the 1986 FIFA World Cup — just four years after military conflict between Argentina and England — Maradona jumped to headbutt the ball, but his outstretched left arm and fist scored the shot instead, an illegal move that went unnoticed by the referees without replay technology. After the game was won by Argentina, Maradona told reporters that the goal was scored "a little with the head of Maradona, and a little with the hand of God."
READ: How Football Icon Diego Maradona Became A Global Religious Figure
This goal isn’t shown in the movie. Instead, “hand of God” has arguably a more spiritual meaning.
Fabietto avoids a great tragedy because he doesn’t travel, instead staying to see Maradona play a match. It’s the hand of God — and maybe Maradona, too — that saves Fabietto from death but leaves him with great loss and grief.
With this, “The Hand of God” explores the possibility of divine intervention and how it shapes the lives of those who encounter it. Its goal isn’t to provide answers, as few films concerned with spirituality are. Instead, it asks questions, depicts raw emotion and unspools a beautiful story.
Director Paolo Sorrentino adds to the movie with a light cultural Italian Catholicism — we hear references to the pope from Fabietto’s family and others — but the references to God are much more spiritual. Sorrentino is no stranger to this kind of depiction of Catholicism. His “The Young Pope” and “The New Pope” are drama series exploring the Vatican, the Roman Catholic Church and Catholic leaders. Many believe these to be irreverent toward Catholicism, but Sorrentino says it’s all in good faith.
Maradona was a Catholic himself, but his progressive political views pushed him away from the church. These were influenced in large part by his upbringing: Maradona was born into poverty and raised in the slums of Buenos Aires. His talent and rise to fame inspired poor people both in his hometown and around the world.
He criticized former Pope John Paul II for the Vatican’s “golden ceilings,” saying they should be sold to help feed the poor. With the arrival of fellow Argentinian Pope Francis, who is by and large more progressive, Maradona returned to Catholicism and kept up a friendly public relationship with the pope. He once gave the pope — who was also a fan — a signed jersey that read in Spanish, “To Pope Francis, with all my affection and (wishes for) much peace in the world.”
READ: Maradona Documentary Packs Plenty Of Catholic Imagery To Go With Its Soccer
“Pope Francis is even bigger than Maradona,” Maradona once said. “We should all imitate Pope Francis.”
The audience and Fabietto never actually meet Maradona through the course of the movie. The closest Fabietto gets is a chance sighting of Maradona driving through town before he’s officially traded to Napoli. Maradona remains an icon and myth throughout the movie, much as he was in life. The Maradonian Church, founded to follow and now memorialize Maradona, is proof enough of that status.
It may be best that Maradona remains a figure of myth in the movie, as his life in Napoli represented somewhat of a fall from grace for the athlete. He was involved with the mafia and drugs — and a failed drug test prevented him from competing in the 1994 World Cup. Maradona was still revered by his fans for the rest of his life, and if anything, this absence of Maradona represents the unconditional love of those who adored him despite his failings.
Maradona isn’t the only figure of myth in “The Hand of God.” In fact, there’s one even greater. The Little Monk is a miracle worker known by all the characters in the movie, though many believe he doesn’t exist. The audience meets him right away: Fabietto’s aunt, who’s been struggling with getting pregnant, is whisked away from her bus stop to meet The Little Monk. He blesses her and tells her she’ll be able to get pregnant.
From that point on, The Little Monk serves as a figure of hope for the lives of Fabietto and his family. When Fabietto catches sight of The Little Monk from the window of a train — by chance, much the same way he did Maradona — he feels hope for his own future for the first time in a long time.
Though Fabietto has somewhat departed from his fervent Maradona following by the end of the movie, there’s an undeniable connection. Maradona was a figure of hope to many for the obstacles he overcame to become the great soccer player he did. Both of these elusive figures are meant to inspire hope by being mostly unknown, and they both succeed.
“The Hand of God” is available to stream on Netflix.
Jillian Cheney is a contributing culture writer for Religion Unplugged. She also writes on American Protestantism and evangelical Christianity and was Religion Unplugged’s 2020-21 Poynter-Koch fellow. You can find her on Twitter @_jilliancheney.