‘Amy’ (2015) VS ‘Diego Maradona’ (2019) directed by Asif Kapadia
What are the similarities to Amy?
- Use of archive footage
- News interviews
- Home footage
- Media footage
- Fame turned to drugs
- Success and fame
- Press and media- portrayal public image
- No sit down interviews
- Linear- follows a timeline from childhood through their lives and careers
- Focuses on how the media and press portray people in the public eye
- Influence of the fame and success
- Media affects those in the spotlight ending in tragedy
- Representation of a wider issue through a single person’s story
- Wants the audience to sympathise with the subject
- Documentarian in background- hardly ever mentioned
- Use of music- used for a purpose and mood
Why do you think Kapadia has chosen Diego Maradona as the subject of his follow-up to Amy?
‘The British filmmaker who blurs the lines between ‘documentary, drama and naturalism’ is now taking on Diego Maradona’
‘With all three films, Kapadia says he wanted to blur the lines “between documentary, drama and naturalism”. ‘
‘Yes, the similarities are both stylistic, in terms of how they’re constructed, and thematic. They are all young, talented people who became very successful in some sphere of pop culture. They’ve all peaked, and then something sad happened to them. They fell off the pedestal they were on. But it wasn’t a conscious decision to zero down parallels between the three subjects. I guess I’m interested in characters who are complex, anti-establishment, and flawed. They aren’t necessarily the ‘good guys’. They’re controversial. I tend to seek out those people.’
‘The biggest difference was Senna died about 13 years before I made the film. Amy died less than a year before I started making the film. It was raw. It was difficult because people were still mourning. Her story was more contemporary, more recent.’
Write 100 words each on five different stylistic/tonal traits (with examples from both Amy and DM) which Kapadia demonstrates in his films.
Archival footage:
Kapadia uses archive footage in both ‘Amy’ and ‘Maradona’ instead of using sit down interviews, such as home video and photos from their childhood, video recordings and interviews taken at the time of their success, performances/award shows and football matches that were broadcasted on TV at the time, and recorded phone calls or discussions. Kapadia avoids using any modern day sit down interviews, however does opt to use audio discussions and interviews of people who knew Amy and Maradona. This means that the entire time the spectator is immersed in the subject’s lives instead of being brought back into reality by current day interviews. In this case the documentarian is not being presented at the forefront or leading the documentary, and instead it is the person and the subject matter which is leading the documentary. For example in ‘Amy’ we are initially introduced to Amy singing ‘happy birthday’ at her friends birthday party when they were young. Likewise in ‘Maradona’ we are shown footage of him kicking a football around in the place he grew up in and throughout are shown home footage of parts of his life, such as him with his children.
Media and news reals
Similarly to the use of archive footage, Kapadia uses media and news reals as one of his stylistic techniques in ‘Amy’ and ‘Maradona’ to focus on how the media and press portray people in the public eye and the affects of his. In ‘Amy’ Kapadia uses press interviews to explore Amy’s personality and show her individuality, however, also suggest to the spectator that this was seen as controversial. Throughout the documentary we are shown news reals and paparazzi footage of Amy at her worst and most vulnerable, giving the impression the British press and tabloids exploited her and untruthfully depicted her as scandalous, which in the documentary is far from the truth. This also included interviews from Jonathan Ross and Graham Norton joking about her use of drugs and alcohol. Similarly, towards the turning point of the ‘Maradona’ documentary the use of news and media footage become more frequent as they focus on his drug addicted and portray negative aspects of his life and fame, whereas towards the beginning we mainly saw football match footage from when Maradona was at his best. The use of news reals combined with real archival home footage contrast one another, showing just how controversial and untrue some of the stories from the media were in contradiction with what happened in their actual lives.
Portrayal of fame and success leading to tragedy
In both documentaries Kapadia shows both Amy and Maradona being overwhelmed by the spotlight and fame which also resulted in their drug use and struggle in their careers. Both documentaries focus on the personal lives of the subjects becoming celebrities and being introduced to the idea of fame, and through their individual lives represents a wider issue with fame and success which hasn’t been talked about before. In both documentaries the fame of Amy and Maradona lead to tragedy. For example, Amy’s drinking and drug use led to her death and for Maradona it led to the end of his professional football career and happiness. Both films suggest how the lives of these people were much more complex than what was ever seen on the news or TV. It showed how the media chose to present it in a dishonest way and spark controversy, rather than showing the more intimate and honest parts of their life and careers.
Linear style
Kapadia uses a linear style of documentary, showing the development of Amy and Maradona’s lives from their childhood, their careers and their death (In Maradona’s case what he’s doing now). Unlike some documentarian which chose to use interviews or use historical references (like seen in Bowling for Columbine) to get their purpose across to the audience, Kapadia only uses archive footage in chronological order in a linear style.
Music
Another stylistic trait which Kapadia uses is his use of music. For example in ‘Amy’ Kapadia uses only Amy’s songs, picking out lyrics which are significant for what was being shown on screen, for example her hit song ‘rehab’. This is seen to be used not as much in ‘Maradona’ as a lot of the documentary was football match footage, however in between Kapadia opts for music which is relevant to the subject matter. Kapadia frequently uses what appears to be traditional Argentinian style music and acts as a purpose to lead the narrative, while also creating a significant impact towards the mood and atmosphere of the documentary.
Emma Coe Film Studies 