Many people will be disappointed by this documentary. There is almost nothing, for instance, about the six seasons (2003-09) that Cristiano Ronaldo played for Manchester United and which laid the foundations of his greatness. There are no interviews with teammates or with great footballers past and present that put his achievements in context. Though Ronaldo himself speaks frequently, he says nothing about how he prepares for games, or about which coaches or fellow professionals he admires. Nevertheless, it's a fascinating film, one in which we learn a lot about this footballing phenomenon, certainly one of the ten greatest forwards ever to play the world's most popular sport, and yet fated to be second best during his own playing career.
Ronaldo has been called a narcissist, a supreme egotist in what should be a team enterprise. And this documentary confirms that in so many ways he is. But actually his self-love is a part of that essential, unshakable self-belief without which he could never have attained the heights. The characteristic shot of him in the documentary is at the wheel of one of his garage full of luxury cars: he likes to be viewed as at the helm, in control. The past (represented by the Manchester United years under the arch-manager Sir Alex Ferguson) means little to him. The future is equally irrelevant except as the potential site of further personal trophies. He lives in the bubble of the present, and his goal each year is not so much team trophies for Real Madrid or Portugal like the Champions League or World Cup, but the Ballon d'Or, the annual FIFA trophy for the best player in world football. What animates him now is the desire to win more Ballons d'Or than Lionel Messi, the diminutive, far less photogenic Barcelona striker, who is two years younger, has won the Ballon d'Or four times to Ronaldo's twice, and is probably the greatest forward ever to grace the game.
The documentary focuses upon Ronaldo's relationships with his agent and with his family. And here we learn about the distant alcoholic father and the warm mother who Ronaldo strongly resembles and who lives every game he plays along her nerves. All this is interesting and tends to humanize this superman a little. And so too does Ronaldo's close relationship with his young son Cristiano Jr., born 2010. But this son has no mother: Ronaldo has never revealed who bore the child, and he has sole custody. It's as though he purchased an infant under the condition that it would be his alone to mould into what he chooses, namely a reproduction of himself. Yet it's clear from the documentary that footballers with Cristiano Ronaldo's talents are rare indeed and his skills are not transferable. How the devoted small child will take to being manipulated during his adolescence by a father whose achievements the son will never be able to match ought to be the stuff of another, probably less hagiographic documentary in ten years' time.
Ronaldo has been called a narcissist, a supreme egotist in what should be a team enterprise. And this documentary confirms that in so many ways he is. But actually his self-love is a part of that essential, unshakable self-belief without which he could never have attained the heights. The characteristic shot of him in the documentary is at the wheel of one of his garage full of luxury cars: he likes to be viewed as at the helm, in control. The past (represented by the Manchester United years under the arch-manager Sir Alex Ferguson) means little to him. The future is equally irrelevant except as the potential site of further personal trophies. He lives in the bubble of the present, and his goal each year is not so much team trophies for Real Madrid or Portugal like the Champions League or World Cup, but the Ballon d'Or, the annual FIFA trophy for the best player in world football. What animates him now is the desire to win more Ballons d'Or than Lionel Messi, the diminutive, far less photogenic Barcelona striker, who is two years younger, has won the Ballon d'Or four times to Ronaldo's twice, and is probably the greatest forward ever to grace the game.
The documentary focuses upon Ronaldo's relationships with his agent and with his family. And here we learn about the distant alcoholic father and the warm mother who Ronaldo strongly resembles and who lives every game he plays along her nerves. All this is interesting and tends to humanize this superman a little. And so too does Ronaldo's close relationship with his young son Cristiano Jr., born 2010. But this son has no mother: Ronaldo has never revealed who bore the child, and he has sole custody. It's as though he purchased an infant under the condition that it would be his alone to mould into what he chooses, namely a reproduction of himself. Yet it's clear from the documentary that footballers with Cristiano Ronaldo's talents are rare indeed and his skills are not transferable. How the devoted small child will take to being manipulated during his adolescence by a father whose achievements the son will never be able to match ought to be the stuff of another, probably less hagiographic documentary in ten years' time.