Review: Films about Ronaldo and the penta refer to almost innocent times

An incredible hero’s journey, with rapid rise, personal drama, a terrifying obstacle and redemption with a happy ending. It’s every screenwriter’s dream. But, if the main character of the film is Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, or simply Ronaldo Fenômeno, the screenwriter friend’s job was easy.

The personal journey of the Brazilian striker is the main point of intersection between the recently released documentaries “Brasil 2002 – Os Bastidores do Penta”, available on Netflix, and “Ronaldo, o Fenômeno”, released by Globoplay. Each one is about 90 minutes long, the time of a football match.

These are films that hark back to almost innocent times, when Brazil beat Germany 2-0 in World Cups (end of 2002) or when their worst defeat in World Cups was a modest 3-0 (end of 1998).

The two have a similar dynamic, using the 1998 lost final in France as a “prequel” to what happened in 2002. If you weren’t collecting sticker albums at the time, it’s important to know that the main character in that decision against French was Zinédine Zidane, scorer of two headed goals. But that’s just for the rest of the galaxy; for Brazilians, the final is remembered for Ronaldo’s convulsion hours before the match.

Directed by Luís Ara and with Belletti (reserve right-back) and Roberto Carlos (main left-back) among the producers, “Bastidores do Penta” is not an “All or Nothing” — a documentary series that follows the scenes, often tense, from teams like Manchester City, Juventus or Arsenal.

The behind-the-scenes scenes are courtesy of Belletti, who played very little and filmed a lot at the Cup, with his personal camera. The scenes are almost always of relaxed moments in concentration or of drumming with pagode on the buses on the way to the games — we can only imagine the suffering of rocker Rogério Ceni, who was part of the group.

In addition to the scenes captured by Belletti, we follow moments from the games in Brazil, with comments from some players —such as Ronaldinho Gaúcho, Ronaldo, Lúcio and the two producers— and from some defeated rivals, such as the English Owen and Beckham or the goalkeeper Oliver Khan, chosen best at the 2002 World Cup before the final… Big mistake.

Even without the “unpublished images”, “Ronaldo, the Phenomenon” does better by focusing the story only on the protagonist. The documentary has the signature of Duncan McMath, who has directed Ronaldo in “El Presidente”, about the ex-player’s daily life as Real Valladolid’s boss, and also made “Take the Ball Pass the Ball” (“Take the Ball the ball passes the ball”), about the exciting Barcelona in the Pep Guardiola years.

The feature shows Ronaldo’s career from the beginning, rescuing the idolatry created around the striker, but always with the main focus on the Brazilian team and the World Cup – he was a reserve in 1994, when Brazil won the tetra without him having entered field. His sprints and sensational goals at PSV, Barcelona or Inter Milan seem almost preliminary to the big stage, the Cups.

A good insight of the documentary happens precisely in the recap of the convulsion of the 1998 final. At this moment, Ronaldo stops being interviewed and becomes an interviewer, talking to Roberto Carlos (his roommate in the concentration) and trying to find something new, like all of us. we already tried. Ronaldo seems ready to end the controversy once and for all by concluding that he “only” went through a serious case of mental health, without conspiracies.

But the player’s best phrase in the feature comes after the memories of 1998: “What I didn’t know is that it would get much worse in the coming years”. Ronaldo is referring to the serious injury he suffered in 2000, when he had a total ligament rupture and saw his kneecap go up his thigh – this scribe still gets more goosebumps with this image than with many horror movies.

Perseverance and focus on a long recovery had only one goal: the 2002 World Cup. And Ronaldo achieved one of the biggest post-injury comebacks in the history of football or any other sport.

There are some interesting curiosities, such as the fact that he didn’t like the nickname Phenomenon, a nickname he got from the Italian press, or that he confessed that Argentine Héctor Cúper was the worst coach he worked with. There are also few external testimonies, such as those of Zidane and Maldini — but a great contribution from Christian Vieri, who formed a duo with Ronaldo in the days of Inter. Among the teammates of the five-time champion cast, only Roberto Carlos.

To the sadness of Corinthians fans, Ronaldo’s heroic journey ends in the documentary with the conquest of the penta. None of the victorious period at Real Madrid, the hypothyroidism in his brief stay at Milan or the titles with Corinthians on his return to Brazil. Or, who knows, the producers are already thinking about the continuation – as is common in hero movies -, with the attacker surrounded by the bunch of madmen.