User reviews

Any movie about Pele is good, however this one takes a very political stand from the insistence on talk about the military regime in Brasil to have basically only journalist who wanted to focus on this. Anyhow, it worth to watch because it is about the greatest player of all times.

Pelé played a beautiful game of soccer and this documentary captured it well. I enjoy watching soccer so I appreciated the footage from previous world cups. The documentary was heavy on that though, and for that reason, did not portray Pelé's story with the richness and complexity it deserved.

This documentary also covers the historical and political context of Pelé's career. As a non-Brazilian, I appreciated getting to learn about this. I didn't not think that the coverage was biased or that this documentary was a left wing propaganda film.

I would have appreciated more discussion of the significance of Pelé being one of the first Black world sports stars. His first world cup appearance came only 11 years after Jackie Robinson integrated baseball in the US. I realize this is about Brazil but I know that county has it's own issues with anti-Blackness and racial inequality.

All in all, a film worth watching, but one that does not match the greatness of its subject.

Pelé is the title of this documentary. Going into it I expected vintage footage of the football player in his greatest moments, the story of his footballing career, and an in-depth look at his personal life which would presumably give us insights into his mind and actions. What we get is some of that, and a strong dose of heavy-handed political rhetoric. It's curious, but pretty revealing as to the filmmaker's bias and political leanings. Honestly, if they'd stuck to the task at hand, we'd be presented with a more focused film. "Pelé - the footballer, his life, and the Brazilian dictatorship" would have been a more accurate title.

Another documentary trying to manipulate the public , talking about politic. Journalists and even a former President talking all the time about dictatorship! How many times this word was repeatedly told. What was about the documentary? I give a 4

A really captivating watch. Great mix of archive footage and interview material to create one of the best football documentaries I've seen.

I liked it was not only about football, it was about politics and the importance of football in Brazil. It's a great way to create conflict but also tension in the story.

I learnt a lot about Pelé but I wish there was more to learn about him as a person. I feel the documentary did not take a inside view of Pelé, but rather looking from the outside. It was more about the impact of Pelé in most cases which of course needs to be included.

I've seen some other football documentaries and this one is by far the best one I've seen.

This is a thorough and straightforward documentary about the most famous futball player of his time; Pelé. It started at highlighting his talent before he ever played professionally through how he became a national hero. It showed key games and plays as well as the three World Cups he helped his Brazilian team to win. It touched on him being used politically and how he was not outspoken about Brazil's time under dictatorship as he too had fears about speaking against the forceful governmental rule. But it did highlight how a winning futball team can unite a country better than any politician. This is competently done and you even get to hear from Pelé himself who now walks with a walker.

Good movie but not of the magnitude of what pelé meant for football or to the Brazilian people. Pelé was our idol, he made us love the game, turning us into the country of football. He brought the "jogo bonito"(which I think the documentary did wrong on not giving it the deserved importance) the style the brazilian national team played in the sixties that charmed the world and influences our style of play untill today.

The choice to bring the dictatorship period in brazil was very good to bring the context of what the people here were going through. Although it could've come out more connected with the storyline and to how Brazilians saw pelé as a hero who could bring joy during those rough times and how he could even unite the people for celebration of football.

I enjoyed this simple documentary but would've appreciated if they tried their own formula. I couldn't help but to think through each scene that "wow.. That's pretty much a copy of the score, how the music settles down, imagery of that scene from Maradona documentary" and then the next scene comes and the same feeling. They should pay royalties to the person who scored the Maradona doc.

As a football aficionado I enjoyed this. I It's basically an over the shoulder type doc, very simple. Very average.

The story of the boy from humbled beginnings in a third World Country who at 17 led Brazil to their first World Cup. Real Footage from World Cups and Santos! Commentary from President Cardoso, Gilberto Gil, other famous players and dignitaries and relived, felt and told by Pele expressing the full spectrum of emotions during his Amazing Journey during turbulent times in Brazil. This is a history, sociology, psychology and political science course rolled into the story of a sports legend and global icon who has been prominent in the emergence of Brazil to the rest of the World!! It's phenomenal and a Must See for all lovers of soccer/football and Brazilians especially the young ones!!!

He deserves this documentary and if you are a soccer fan, please watch it!

The 2022 Football World Cup has just finished with Argentina's talismanic striker Lionel Messi being hailed by many as the "G. O. A. T." or Greatest Of All Time for his performances throughout the competition. This documentary on a different generation's superstar, Brazil's Pelé, makes a different and I would say stronger case for the title with a player his countrymen called The King. This Netflix production, with Pelé an active participant, relates his remarkable story rising from poverty to becoming one of the most successful and wealthy sportsman of his time with Mohammad Ali his only comparable contemporary in terms of worldwide reach.

The film concentrates on his international career and particularly his exploits at the World Cups of 1958, 1962, 1966 and of course his climactic final appearance at the 1970 tournament held in Mexico. This is the first World Cup I personally remember watching as a boy. The matches were played in fantastic-looking stadia, there were great teams competing with great players - besides Brazil's all-stars, there were strong representatives from Europe, like England, the holders, Italy and Germany (or West Germany as they were then) and from South America Peru and Uruguay. My parents had just got our first ever colour television and the teams in their classic strips positively glowed out from the small screen into our living room. The football was fantastic too, with Pelé the undoubted star of the show.

Aged 29, at his professional peak and determined to wipe out the memories of the team's ignominious exit from the 1966 tournament in England at the group stages, Pelé in 1970 delivered so many iconic moments during the competition, two towering headers, one bringing about England goalkeeper Gordon Banks' fantastic reflex save, the other beating another goalkeeping great Dino Zoff at his near post in the actual final, his killer passes to Jairzinho and Carlos Alberto to score memorable goals in the same two games, the attempt from half-way against Czechoslovakia, the return volley and runaround-dummy both against Uruguay. All these done by the one player, in the top competition, in successive games.

Okay, so I'm satisfied that he was a truly great, if not the greatest ever player but the film goes a little deeper into the man's personal life and there I'd have to say the jury is still out. He candidly admits he never loved his wife before this narrative promptly disappears from view and then more pertinently and slightly more stringently, he's questioned about his passive some would say open-armed acceptance of the dictatorship which overturned democracy in Brazil from 1968 - 1985. We see him cosying up to the junta's president and retrospectively attempting rather unconvincingly to play the "sports and politics don't mix" card to absolve himself from any complicity with the harsh crackdowns perpetrated on his fellow countrymen and women by the military. It's quite an eye-opener to see one of his fellow-teammates of the time, Paulo Cesar lambast his footballing idol for his human failings. Pelé tries disingenuously to claim that he did more for his people as a sportsman than many politicians ever did, but of course he's side-stepping the issue. I accept he was in a tricky position but a bigger and braver man could and maybe should have said or done something rather than just kow-tow to the authorities in photo-ops with the pres. In the film he's thus compared unfavourably to Ali, who of course defied the American courts and risked his career in the process.

In the end, I left this film a greater admirer of Pelé the footballer but a somewhat lesser one of him as a man. As brave as a lion on the pitch, what a shame he was as meek as a mouse off it.

The title should be Pelé at the world cup. The doc not even try to go deeper to show who really is Pelé, or even try to tell us something different about him. Maybe it is okay, but it would be a lot better to know a little bit about Edson Arantes.

It could explore more about his carrier on brazilians teams and also how he started so young (17 he was playing the world cup), and what he did after soccer.

The idea of showing the dictatorship in Brazil was not bad, also how politcs influences even in soccer and it was a tough momment.

He is supposed to be the GOAT, however the doc do not show us this. There is no interview from others selecitons os players talking about how difficult is to play against him, or even how he was above the other players.

After watching it, i just feel that he was a really good player that won a lot of worldcups and that's it. Nothing more.

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I wish it was a mini series like the Last Dance instead of a movie. It could say more about his personal life and also political life in his time. But still, it was very informative for me and I don't agree with other bad comments about telling politics. Football is never separated from politics in any country, so without telling about politics, it is impossible to understand Pele or any other players.

I read some of the other reviews and didn't understand the depth of their comments and criticisms. As a football fan -American football (soccer is just a sport without contact and helmets and brutal injuries) is football, I grew up knowing the name of Pele' but not much about him. This documentary was so informative and unbiased dealing with his life from a personal and political prospective. He obviously did not want to be political but wanted to be his a hero in his Nation of Brazil (politics aside). I am so glad the director was able to interview him so he could do - retrospection of his life in general. This film is another feather in his cap and I hope others who want to know more about the "man" Pele' as opposed to the "symbol" of Pele' enjoys this film as much as I have. I truly enjoyed it and will look forward to watching a world cup for the first time after watching this documentary.

Netflix joined the most radical left-wing sports journalists in Brazil and took advantage of Pelé's beautiful trajectory to make yet another piece of ideological advertising, as usual. During the documentary, few details about the king's life, little football and a lot of space for left-wing politicians, artists and journalists to parade their ideology. Poor Pelé. It was not yet this time that they made a film to match the genius. That was one of the worst.

From the nineteenth century when Great Britain built the first soccer fields in Brazil to be utilized by English rail engineers to the 1970's World Cup a 100 years of Brazilian history can be summarized by the life of one soccer player. This man was born in a land that received 4.5 million enslaved people from Africa, and also watched the killing of millions of native people. No one would expect that such a country known as an exporter of natural resources like iron and gold would deliver the best soccer player in the world just as the brand new Bossa Nova Jazz, and nascent aircraft industry. Those surprises were represented by Pelé. The dictatorship aided by the North American government tried to control this wave of art and technology renascence but Brazilian people have been unstoppable since then just like Pelé when the right time comes. Great documentary with amazing footage from world cups and Brazil's reality.

This is a brilliant movie and brilliant documentary. Loved every single of it . Pele is the king of football all the time and one of the best player ever in the history and in the world forever. There will never be a player like him and a legend like him and for his achievement. GOAT .

You don't need to be boring or cheat the viewers to talk about dictatorship, but i guess that this director didn't realize that. The documentary is boring, start "ok" showing some good moments of Pelé, then, everything goes from bad to worse! Don't waste your time!

You can find by yourself: Jose Trajano e Juca Kfori are fans of Lula, just put it on google.

They are using Pele image to tell only they side of the story.

It is a shame what netflix did with Pelé. Whoever clicks on the film to see a story about 'the king', ends up facing a left-wing plot, which has little to do with football. Pelé is not the main character of the film; he is only used by the director who, through the media of Brazilian left-wing journalists and politicians, defend just one side of the story they tell. If there was a negative score for the documentary, I would have my vote.

Just by checking that Juca Kfouri, Gilberto Gil, Benedita da Silva (!) and Fernando Henrique Cardoso are interviewed on this film, I was sure this was a left-wing propaganda using Pelé as an excuse. After 15 minutes I realized I was right! Poor film, poor script, poor production, zero care with the locations. The only good thing in the movie is the historical footages of the 1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970 World Cup.

Pelé Eterno is a better and deeper documentary!

Another Netflix political clickbait pseudo-documentary..

Usam a imagem do Rei Pelé para fazer um documentário esquerdista que perde totalmente o foco do futebol a fim de defender os comunistas de 1964.