Much more than a goal scorer!
Pelé
November 19th, 1969. A crowd of over 65,000 at the Maracana
Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The hosts, Vasco Da Gama, are hosting a very
important opponent: Santos. In fact, there's an even bigger name than Santos:
Pele.
When his name is announced, the Maracana stadium collapses.
Pele, who has already netted 999 times, is expected to score
his thousandth goal here.
It's a historic day, because since the invention of soccer,
no footballer on earth has come close to reaching this figure, let alone
reaching it.
For the first time in its 70-year history, Vasco's own fans
want a rival to score a goal.
In the first minutes of the match, as expected, Santos
started to press, Pele, facing the goalkeeper with a through ball, lost his
angle, but hit the ball, a little softly, Vasco goalkeeper Edgardo Andrada was
in great form and kept it comfortably. Their own fans started booing their
goalkeeper, Andrada was dumbfounded! In the second half Pele, this time from
outside the penalty area, curled the ball outside the box with the outside of
his right foot, the Vasco goalkeeper, at the risk of injuring his knee, flew
like a tiger and cleared it off the crossbar with the outside of his right
foot. The crowd went wild with rage.
Although Vasco scored an own goal (a Vasco defender headed
the ball into his own net just as Pele was about to score), the match ended in
a draw and the king of football did not score that day. This was undoubtedly
due to the fact that the number 4 and 5 players of the home team abandoned the
game and put Pele in their sights. Actually Brito, Dutra, Fidelis and Jair Marinho, the Vasco Da Gama
defense was a wall.
And the extra time
The moment came with 12 minutes to go, when Pele, entering
the penalty area with a through ball, was caught between two opposing players
and brought down. It's a cliché: the referee didn't hesitate to point to the
penalty spot. Goalkeeper Andrada protested a lot, but the noise from the stands
was deafening: Pele, Pele, Pele...
The Brazilian people, who had been suffering for years from
the Mondgel Syndrome, which I will tell you about in a moment, had trampled on
the love of the club, glorified the opposing goal scorer, wanted him to go down
in history, and everyone had only one concern: "o milésimo", the
historical witness to the "thousandth".
Pele tensed up as he planted the ball on the white dot. For
a moment he thought to look around him. None of his teammates were around, and
he turned back in amazement. The entire Santos team was lined up side by side
on the midfield line, praying.
Pele hit the ball half a meter above the ground to the left
of the goalkeeper, Andrada flew with all his might, he had anticipated the
corner, he had managed to touch the ball, but he couldn't stop it from going
into the net. As Andrada punched the grass in anger, all hell broke loose at
the Maracana. Hundreds of journalists, photographers, TV journalists flooded
the pitch, substitutes, technical staff, fans and so on, the pitch was full and
the celebration of the goal lasted 24 minutes.
The scenes I have described are depicted in Netflix's new documentary Pelé.
The documentary is the result of an enormous archive search.
In addition to the fine workmanship, almost every living witness was interviewed. And of course, first and foremost with Pele, the hero of the documentary.
The documentary begins in an empty hangar as Pele, who has difficulty walking, slowly enters the frame and we learn the story from his mouth.
The Pele documentary starts by rewinding the movie a bit...
From the ghettos of Brazil, we learn about the poverty-stricken life of Pele, the painter's son of a father whose life is football.
Born in 1940 to a family of lumberjacks, the boy was named Edson Arantes do Nascimento Pele. A childhood spent in poverty with his two siblings, a professional soccer player father who was permanently unemployed... His name was Joao Ramos do Nascimento, his nickname was Dondinho (which doesn't sound very nice) and little Pele was called "son of Dondinho" for a long time.
Dondinho played for junior teams and when Pele was 6 years
old, he got the chance to sign for Atletico Mineiro, one of Brazil's big teams.
The festive mood at home was short-lived, as he suffered a cruel blow in his
first game and was injured, forcing him to end his career. From then on, he
pinned all his hopes on his son. He becomes her first mentor and coach. And the
unfortunate father finds a job as a cleaner in a hospital.
Pele, on the other hand, struggles to support his family by
shining shoes until the age of 15.
Sometimes with a ball made out of old socks, sometimes with
a grapefruit, Pele plays bounce ball, giving his foot a great agility.
These parts are not detailed in the documentary, after a
general narration, the main story starts in 1956, when he joined the Santos
club at the age of 15. We hear about the beginning of Pele's professional life
from his teammate Pepe, who first discovered him. At the age of 16 he made the
first team.
The event that changed his destiny was undoubtedly his
call-up to the 58 World Cup squad. A tremendous happiness in the lumberjack
family. Pele gets on a plane for the first time in his life and travels abroad
for the first time. At the World Cup in Sweden, Brazil was not recognized. It
was even seen as a bit of an average team. As Pele recounts his memories, he
says that the Swedish children were amazed by the color and thought it was
paint. When the journalists learned that there was a 17-year-old boy in the
squad for the quarterfinals in Gothenburg, they made some rather obscene
comments before the match.
Pele remembered his father's words: "Believe in
yourself and remember, whatever your age, career, fame, you are all equal on
the pitch!"
The ball comes into his lap in the penalty area, he does
what he had done a thousand times before with a grapefruit, softens it with his
knee, dives past the opponent and shoots... When Pele scores, the picture
changes. Brazil, who beat Wales with this goal, are France's opponents in the
semifinals.
Pele plays like a 40-year veteran and scores against France.
And then another, and another. Brazil eliminates the arrogant French 5-2.
In the collective memory of the Brazilian people, the defeat
to Uruguay in 1950.
The society feels a great sense of humiliation because of
this. Losing the cup at home to another country, a Latin American country, has
a huge impact on the country's self-confidence. Not just the 200,000 Brazilians
who filled the Maracana stadium, but the whole country is traumatized.
Brazilian writer Neslon Rodriguez says that after this
incident, Brazilian society suffered from a syndrome called "Mongrel
Comlaxia".
So what is this Mongrel Complex?
Radriguez explained his concept as follows: "The feeling
of inferiority that Brazilians voluntarily put themselves in compared to the
rest of the world with the "Mongrel Complex". Brazilians are inverted
Narcissus, spitting in their own image. Here is the truth: we cannot find personal
or historical excuses for self-esteem."
There is still an urban legend that many people committed
suicide by throwing themselves down at the Maracana stadium at the end of a
match.
The Portuguese word for this complex is complexo de
vira-lata, which translates as complexo de vira-lata, or stray dog complex.
The historical cycle will show that the Brazilians
experienced a similar situation again in 2014 when they lost 7-1 to the Germans
at the World Cup, again at home.
You can research the concept of "Cultural Shame"
to understand the definition more closely.
Let's continue with our documentary.
When Brazil, who had also eliminated France, faced Sweden in
the final, all the players, with the exception of Pele, were very nervous.
After Sweden's first goal, millions of Brazilians on the radio began to worry
that history would repeat itself.
But heroes are heroes because they appear when they are
needed most, and on the pitch the greatest hero in the history of soccer is
born. Pele bounces the ball like a pair of intertwined socks, then, after
beating his opponent, puts it in the corner. 1-1...
When hope blossoms, one grows... The Brazilian team shook
off its humiliation and realized its strength. A few minutes after the first
goal, Pele changed not only his personal history but also Brazil's fortunes
with a header from Zagallo's cross. The Brazilian team won the final 5-2 and
returned home as heroes. The country talks only about them, especially about
Pele... 10 years of losers are over.
The documentary not only enriches the original match footage
with interviews with the protagonists and witnesses, but also maintains
continuity and increases curiosity.
In the documentary, we learn the unknown details of a
well-known story.
A 17-year-old boy is changing the destiny of his country
with his feet.
What follows is a story of heroism. Pele has become the
country's biggest brand, adding value to everything he touches. First and
foremost to his club Santos. The club, which was ordinary and had not achieved
much until that day, ran from success to success and its fame went beyond the
borders of the country.
But life is not a straight line and no story continues in
the same line of happiness. Pele also experiences great pain, hardship and
despair.
Pele, who brought three of the four World Cups he
participated in during his career to his country, for a period of time, his
fate and the fate of his country were so parallel that Brazil was plunged into
political and social chaos due to injuries and his withdrawal from football.
When General Medici consolidated his dictatorship in the
late 60s, he made great use of soccer. And Pele, of course.
At this very moment, the world is embracing another
political hero: Muhammad Ali Clay. Unlike Pele, Muhammad Ali refuses to be a
political tool and is greatly admired. Pele, on the other hand, is criticized
even in his own country for being a tool for a dictator. But he has his
reasons.
Brazil owed a lot to Santos, Santos owed a lot to Pele, Pele
owed a lot to Brazil... In this cycle of gratitude, Pele refuses to be a
political figure. But he also refuses to be used by the state. When he goes all
the way to the dictator's palace, he receives great criticism from the public.
In 1966, in the World Cup finals in England, Brazil played
incredibly cruel football against their opponents. Within a week Brazil had 8
players, including Pele, out of the squad due to injury. Bulgaria, Hungary and
Portugal were mercilessly crushed by the yellow and green team.
No matter how much Pele, the country's national symbol, ran
away, he could not escape the coups. It was during this period that the fragile
Brazilian society collapsed socially and economically. It was as if there was
no hope without Pele.
When Pele announced his retirement from the national team,
clouds of pessimism surrounded the country.
It was as if football was the glue that held society
together, and when this failure led to Pele quitting the national team and then
announcing that he was quitting football, social unrest broke out in Brazil in
1968. The Medici government declared martial law. The general saw pessimism as
an opportunity to consolidate his dictatorship.
The documentary does not act like Pele on these issues, but
keeps its camera on the truth and tries to shed light on the history of the
country beyond football. It talks about the peak of torture, murder,
kidnappings, torture in prisons, repression, censorship and bans.
Directors Ben Nicholas and David Tryhorn (who we know from
their documentaries on the famous athlete Danny Harris and the English soccer
player Kenny Dalglish) While following Pele's life story, they also try not to
miss the bigger picture.
Although side stories such as M. Ali and General Medici
enrich the documentary in this respect, unfortunately, due to the time
handicap, they are passed with small touches.
One of the most pleasant details is that the fatherly
president of Santos at the time, Athiê Jorge Coury (who looks a lot like our
late Süleyman Seba)
"As long as I am president, Pele will not be sold from
Santos". Because according to Coury, Pele was a national treasure and
national treasures could not be sold for any price.
Indeed, as soon as the Santos president changed, the new
one, Vasco José Fae, gave the green light to Pele's transfer to America. Pele
would try to save his body and soul, tired of being crushed under the weight of
the world he lived in, by transferring to the Cosmos for 4 million dollars in
1975...
Between 1957-61, Pele scored 355 goals before he turned 21,
a figure not reached by many scorers throughout their careers.
He scored 1284 goals for Santos, the team he played for
until 1974.
By the time he retired from football in 1977, he had scored
1281 official goals in 1363 league games.
The number of goals he scored when he retired was much
debated. Some say that Pele was lucky to have played football at a time when
television was widespread and was the only channel in many countries. That's
why many soccer players' goals were not included in the official literature.
For some reason, the documentary prefers not to go into these issues.
On the other hand
The biggest problem with the documentary is its duration.
The one and a half hour documentary is full in every sense
of the word. However, the material that could have been a series of at least 8
episodes is either wasted or not touched upon at all, so to speak. For this
reason, they tried to complete the story by including a considerable epilogue
in the finale. As a moviegoer, we don't see the details of his adventure as an
actor in the documentary, for example...
With all its flaws and beauties, Netflix's Pele is a great
documentary. It offers both a historical perspective on our generation and a
first-person account of a genuine hero.
Do not miss...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMyUnyxVB9Q
İran sinemasında neredeyse her filminde evrensel bir meseleyi ustalıkla irdeleyen derinlikli yönetmen Jafar Panahi’nin 1997 yılında çektiği “Ayeneh-Ayna” bir toplumun futbol ile toplumsal kazanım hissi arasında kurulduğu varsayılan bağları muazzam bir şekilde anlatır. Aynı yönetmen 2006 yılına geldiğinde vizörü daha da yakına alır. “Offside” İran gibi katı ve tavizsiz bir toplumda dahi futbolun nasıl bir üst kimliğe dönüştürüldüğünü şahane gösterir.
2005 yapımı bir Lexi Alexander filmi olan Hooligans ve 2008 Jon Baird filmi olan Cass futbol fanatikliğinin portrelenmesi açısından oldukça önemli ve belgesel veri taşıyan (Gerçek olaylara dayanıyorlar zira) sinema ürünleri. Hep yabancı filmlerden örnek vermemizin nedeni, futbolu bu kadar gelişmiş gibi görünüp, endüstrileşen bir ülkenin sinemasının da perişanlığının kanıtı aynı zamanda. Maalesef doğru düzgün bir tek film bile yok bu konuda ülkemizde.
Amansız Türko!
Allah’tan İspanya maçları ölüm-kalım değerinde algılanmadı ki, büyük olaylar çıkmadı! Ancak bu dolum patlamak için, milli maçlar dışındaki en büyük gerilim riski olan ilk maçı bekledi. 