Messi - Storia di un campione

Messi's Barcelona has the capacity to transform one's beliefs regarding football. With the Argentine at its centre, Rijkard's, Guardiola's, Villanova's and Enrique's teams have won all they could, but Barcelona stood out through the way in which it scintillated when Messi was playing his best. Which is most of the time, really.

De la Iglesia's documentary does not do him justice. Set in between highlights reels, flashback reconstructions and dull restaurant conversations, it feels like someone throwing as many ideas and emotions at you as possible, in the hope of playing a percentage game. The problem lies in the film's lack of focus and depth. Seemingly countless people are interviewed, sourced from Messi's childhood friends and teachers, the media, through to his current teammates or past coaches - a mixture bordering on the desperate, trying to fill the void of purpose. Yet, the material feels so slight and provides so little insight into who the man really is, that it tells little beyond a linear story. A story most people who follow Messi would know by now - the growth hormones, the challenges faced from living far from home at such an early age, the endless Maradona comparisons.

Nothing ever seems to go beyond the first layer of complexity. Five minutes or so are dedicated to the relationship Messi has to fans of the national team, there's a cursory mentioning of the tax fraud accusations, and the difficult, injury-plagued 2013-14 season is not brought up at all. As an ode to his footballing genius, there's something to grab a hold of here, but it barely manages to convey the beauty and poetry of what Messi achieves on a football pitch.

What's worse is that a much better movie could have come about, even relying on the limited input available. Why, if you have the likes of Pique, Mascherano, Iniesta or the former Argentine manager Alejandro Sabella, would you spend such a huge chunk of your time with flat memories of friends who are apparently no longer a part of Messi's life? The most watchable moments are those when Menotti or Cruyff discuss the wider importance of Messi to Barcelona, his tactical importance in relation to his technical abilities, but they are few and far between.

Unfortunately, the experience of de la Iglesia's documentary is too bland to matter and too emotionally manipulative to elicit actual feelings.

Beautifully done with the conversational format and the background information.

I would like to state that some other reviewer mentioned to not call association football "soccer". Well, the British coined the name soccer in short for "association football". This was done to differentiate between rugby football, or "rugger", and association football, or "soccer".

Since the British invented the game, I don't think they'll take offense to your ignorance of the beautiful game's history.

American football, rugby football and association football can all be called football. I'd defer to the inventors of the game when calling association football soccer, instead of calling Americans names based on deeper prejudices.

Soccer is a beautiful game, by the way, and Messi is the greatest to every play.

As a big Messi fan (who actually support Sevilla), I was not so excited about this movie. I read his biography (both Caioli and Balague's books), I watch his every matches. So I thought to myself "there won't be anything new" but I watched the movie last night and I was touched by it.

It as really amazing seeing his friends, former teammates and coaches and everyone else.

It's always nice to watch or listen the story of a legend. How a little kid with ghd became a legend?

We all know Messi the Footballer but seeing people who know about him since his childhood made me learn few things about Leo the Person. And it was amazing. We, fans, always want to learn more about people we admire, our idols. We want to know more about their lives. And Álex de la Iglesia (with Jorge Valdano) did a great job here.

Messi, with his intelligence, his speed, his skills and his personality, is simply the greatest player ever.

Well done!

He vs cr7 are the FW goat!! JUST A AWESOME MOVIE WITH HIS LIFE STORY.

We would not be who we are. We really do not have anything else to contribute to the world except that game we play continuously, over and over again. USA has Hollywood, and we Europeans we have football. Americans should stop calling it soccer, because it is not. It simply is football.

Messi is part of world heritage. Just as Pele or Maradonna are history so Messi will become history as well. Not only football history but world history as well. He is not just one of the biggest talents world had as far as football goes, he is also so simpa.

Messi, I could write so many laudeamus about you, but so much has been said about you that I will just add: You will probably be the best player in history! They will always discuss who is is better, you or some other top player. But I think you will be remembered as the most simpa! Good luck and God speed!