Three Ballon d’Ors. Over 500 senior goals. FIFA World Player of the Year in 2008. Top scorer in the UEFA Champions League four times. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s list of accolades is staggering. Along with Lionel Messi, he is perhaps the finest football player of our generation. And now a new documentary looks to unmask the man behind the icon.
For over a year, the Portuguese superstar allowed a film crew access into his life. The result is Ronaldo, a documentary which explores the star’s life, made by the teamwhose previous work includes Amy and Senna.
There are moments here that capture the sacrifices that went into the making of Ronaldo, the star – his mom tearfully talking about how she sent her son to Lisbon when he was just twelve years old; Ronaldo revealing that he never got to know his father, juxtaposed with scenes of him playing with his own son. One particularly poignant, yet funny moment comes right at the end of the trailer, when Ronaldo and his son are lying next to each other. “I’m going to be a goalkeeper. Okay Dad?” says the son. Ronaldo pauses for a moment and then replies “A goalkeeper! Are you joking?”
There are glimpses of a younger Ronaldo aswell. “'I think people will love watching this documentary because it's not fictitious or manipulated – it's something real,” said the Portuguese star, who will attend the documentary’s global premiere on November 9. “'My aim with this documentary is to be who I am, objectively for my fans.”
Photograph: AFP