Why Pelé is a must watch Football Film Pt 1 - The King and His Court
There are many pioneers who paved the way for the greats of today. However, nowadays we rarely speak about the first, the King, Pelé. If you haven’t already watched it, let me tell you why Pelé is one of the most must-watch Football’s films out there.
“Football is for those who have guts”
While there is so much to unpack in this epic, let’s start with the good stuff - the football. Pelé’s story begins as the son of a footballing Father, who dreamed of emulating his Dad and making him proud.
Due to his story beginning over 60 years ago, we have sometimes lacked both the footage and the context behind his footballing stardom, but the Netflix film digs through the archives to give us footage in both black and white and glorious colour. Turning professional at only 16, he had never left the country before he shocked the world and took the 1958 World Cup by storm.
This was bursting onto the scene in the truest sense; imagine if Michael Owen didn’t just score that goal vs Argentina, but actually went on to keep scoring and star in a successful World Cup Final. This was that, but better.
Not just hearing about it but actually seeing the great striker dribble around players for fun and power past despairing defenders, striking the ball so cleanly with either foot, you can begin to see how he became such a phenomenon. Dropping deep to pick the ball up in midfield, linking play and creating for others, he was a precursor to many of the greats we think of today. To see his worldie in the World Cup Final is to see a 17 year old take his team and his country on his back and take them to the promised land.
Pelé and Eusébio, ahead of Santos’ 5-2 victory vs Benfica to win the Intercontinental Cup
At Santos, his teammates used to laugh about how good he was, such was his quality! He took them onto another level; described in the film as a small club, he took them to global acclaim, scoring a mind boggling 355 goals between 1957 and 1961....freakish numbers which put his greatness into context. His Santos smashed Eusébio’s Benfica 5-2 in the Intercontinental Cup in 1962 for further context, showing just how special that Santos team was.
All the jokes about his numbers being inflated fail to take into consideration what he and his team did on the world stage. The Eurocentric view taken on football today does not mesh well with the reality that a lot of the best players, along with the King and His Men, played their football in Brazil.
He got injured early in the 1962 World Cup but still remained a staunch supporter of the team and Amarildo specifically, as detailed brilliantly in the movie. This poor luck would continue in the 1966 tournament, injured again in the decisive defeat to Eusébio’s Portugal. The weight of expectation from back home, the defensive tactics and the lack of protection afforded to players meant that he was effectively kicked out of the tournament as the team around him shrunk.
Pelé celebrating his opening goal vs Italy in the 1970 World Cup Final
The film also goes into great detail into the doubt, the pressure and the politics surrounding Pelé heading into the 1970 tournament, but the one certainty as he was boarded the plane was that it was to be his last. The film being set between his four outings in Football’s biggest event is fitting, as it both encapsulates his rise to stardom and his staying power on the greatest stage.
After a shaky start vs Czechoslovakia, the team and Pelé burst into life, sparking the tournament with their vibrant and expressive football under Zagallo. One feature of his game often overlooked was his vision and ability to make the play, seen by his brilliant assists throughout this tournament. Moments such as his assist for Jairzinho vs England or for Carlos Alberto in the final show his genius in brilliant yellow and blue. More than just a goalscorer, he was sensational when playing as the number always on his back. Moments like these are rarely shown nowadays and well worth watching on screen.
Zagallo’s man management enabled both Pelé and Brazil to show the guts his father would have proud of in their comeback win vs Uruguay in the semi final, where he again led from the front and strode forwards in the 2nd half, the mental scars from the catastrophic defeat at the Maracana 20 years earlier still present in the minds of all Brazillians watching in the stands and tuning in at home. His all round play, his assist, his iconic dummy around the keeper was all outrageous and again is mesmerising to see in colour.
The final was an absolute epic, as two heavyweights in Brazil and Italy battled for glory. The buildup to the final was amazing and in many ways, the game itself summed up Pelé’s career; iconic, influential and impactful. The header at the back post was an ode to Pelé’s ability to do it all, while the football the team played was beautiful and his famous assist for the famous fourth was a wonderful step by step guide in how to joga bonito.
To this day, he is still atop the scoring charts for international football’s most celebrated team. Pelé was the star in a constellation of incredible talent and helped shine a light not only on himself but also on Brazilian football.
He is seen as the man who led Brazil out of the doldrums, but he took others with him. Players like Jairzinho, Zagallo, Rivellino, Gérson, Garrincha, Zito, Gilmar and many more all share their legacy with the great striker and helped propel him to immortality. If you are in any doubt, it is absolutely worth your time to watch the great man in action on the big screen.