Pelé and the dictator: the blur of O Rei

The best Brazil that football remembers, that of Pelé, coincided with the worst Brazil that has suffered in politics, that of the military dictatorship born from the coup in 1964 and which lasted two decades.

For those nostalgic for that dazzling football, far from the hyperprofessional and hypercapitalist model of today, the documentary

, on Movistar +, will satisfy their hunger.

They will see the dribbles, the walls, the goals with a little bit of political context of the time.

For those who want to delve into the figure of O Rei, and its contradictions, the film

on Netflix

is a better option

.

More information

• Pelé, 80 years of the perfect player

• Brazil owes more to Pelé than Pelé to Brazil

We see the current old Pele in his 80s, fragile, in need of a walker, far from any luxury.

He himself and people around him tell his story.

When he was summoned for the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, he was a 17-year-old boy who had never left Brazil, and his country had left no more imprint on the sport than the national trauma of the Maracanazo, the defeat against Uruguay in 1950.

Pelé's generation - not just him - chained two world cups;

then he lost that of England and the star, depressed, said that he was leaving Canarinha.

But they convinced him to join the team that returned triumphant, again, from Mexico in 1970.

The key scene arrives: the three-time champion Pelé embraced the dictator Emílio Garrastazu Medici while

hundreds of his compatriots

.

A photo and a silence that hurt many: in those years other black athletes - led by Muhammad Ali - were activists for civil rights.

He defends himself by saying that he did not know about politics, that his thing was to make the people enjoy the ball, that he has posed with all the presidents until today with Bolsonaro.

Even with the distance of the years, O Rei does not accept harshly judging his yesterday, the great blur of a great career.

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