Baggio: The Divine Ponytail (2021) User Reviews

An appetiser

[PedroPires90 · 5/10 · 27 May 2021]

This is personal, I'm a big fan of Baggio because my dad was his biggest fan. The film was released on the day that my dad would have been celebrating one more anniversary, if he didn't pass away unexpectedly last year. I also am a fan of films with short durations.

However, to talk about Baggio and to make a biography, you need between 2.5 and 3 hours to develop the person and the player. Unfortunately, the film feels like an appetiser. What it does, does well, but there are so many chronological jumps and so many important moments out of it (not even a minute with Milan and Juve, the most important clubs on his career), that it feels totally incomplete.

If you wanted to make a short film about Baggio, you should focused only on a specific time (maybe the WC94, maybe his time after that WC, maybe the time before), but 90 minutes is not enough for the man, and even less for the player. Watching the film, casuals will never understand why Baggio is one of the best ever, the film doesn't show anything about the player, what he achieved (speak barely about it).

It's sad because there was potential here. The actors do a great job, the colours and cinematography is interesting, but unfortunately everything seems so rushed that we don't have even time to be emotional during the most dramatic moments.

ZERO PASSIONE!!!

[adamlausi · 5/10 · 27 May 2021]

The actor playing Roberto Baggio did a good job, I thought he looked like him and everything. But apart from the acting I found this film to be very disappointing once it had finished. I was actually quite enjoying it up until the point I discovered the director had skipped some historic and unforgettable highlights of his career by jumping straight into USA 94. I'll never forget some of the beautiful goals Baggio scored for Italy, especially one of the greatest World Cup goals ever against Czech Republic at Italia 90. I was 10yrs old and celebrating the house down with my Neapolitan Dad! Baggio and Schillaci were Azzurri superstars during that World Cup (along with other legends such as Maldini and Baresi).

The film also misses out France 98 too amongst other vital moments of his glory days when he was the best in the world and played for Juventus. He also redeemed himself for his USA 94 penalty miss from showing his amazing talent and strength by scoring a brilliant penalty at France 98, which showed so much confidence and courage to step up and take one after his significant fail 4 years earlier. This film made it look (to non Baggio fans) that all he did was curl up into a sulky ball of depression and hide away from the world after he missed against Brazil in the final, when he actually carried on being a great footballer for his club and country. After he kicks it over the crossbar we get taken "Six Years Later". What a load of ****.

Also nothing is properly and clearly explained or elaborated on why Baggio was actually an "Italian icon" and universally one of the greatest/most loved footballers ever. No effort put into what a genius on the field he was. They could've at least used a stunt double/professional footballer to imitate some of Baggio's magic on the field, allowing viewers to see why its referred to as 'the beautiful game'... Otherwise why did Sacchi even compare him to Maradona? Why?!! This film shows does the real 'Divine Ponytail' no justice. It mainly focuses on his injury rather than what a skilful maestro he was on the field.

Baggio's resume includes playing for 3 of the most successful Italian clubs ever... AC Milan, Juventus, Inter Milan, and scoring 27 goals in 56 games for Italy after appearing in the 3 World Cup Tournaments that took place in the 90's. I would've felt more satisfied if this film was an interesting 180 minutes long instead of a rushed 90 minutes. I got nothing out of it apart from learning that his father was a very stubborn and negative man. The CGI replicating the original exterior to the stadiums looked too artificial to me aswell, too silky smooth, glossy and perfect. I think the real footage would've been better, so what if it looks dated now and has that blurry 90's look, it would've looked more authentic and added to the nostalgia. Except a couple of old televisions there was nothing in this film to indicate it took place in the 1990's.

This typical Netflix-ey movie actually had the potential to be a quality biopic telling the story of a legendary athlete. Italy haven't had a player like Roberto Baggio since Roberto Baggio. But to me, it unfortunately missed out the most important story of all - WHY he inspired and brought so much joy to millions of people.

Baggio had deserved more

[OJT · 7/10 · 26 May 2021]

Good film, but just good. It seems Italians struggle when making biopics. They only get half good, just like this.

Baggio is a national hero, and known all over the world, and he had deserved a better film. Actors are doing OK, but the story too poetic. Too clicheed.

Spectator visuals make up for an incomplete story

[Ruskington · 6/10 · 1 June 2021]

A highly ambitious film that scrapes a pass mark thanks largely to its beautiful cinematography and use of vivid colour. Arcangeli is so spookily similar to Baggio that the transitions between new and old footage are almost seamless. Unfortunately the story of Baggio's remarkable career is simply not told completely or coherently. It's fine for a football addict like myself but for anyone else it would be impossible to get a grasp on just how good Baggio was and how his life and career played out.

Good actors but the plot misses many important points

[kygian · 6/10 · 27 May 2021]

The life of Roberto Baggio was full of success and falls but the movie doesn't show all of them. It starts with his faith in Buddhism and suddenly jumps in the future, missing important events of his life. In. In this way people who aren't Italian can't understand how much he was popular and loved.

At least actors play quite well, espacially the one who represents him.

absolutely terrible watch

[iemand-anders1 · 27 June 2021]

This is not a good movie for several reasons.

First of all if you'd hope to see portrail of why baggio was such a genius player, this movie wil completely let you down ans it actually barely touch football absurdly enough.

It focused mainly on Baggio struggling with injuries,with coaches ,having daddy issues and converting religion.

Fair enough if that would then be very well done,but its not.

This movie feels rushed and jumps over so many important and interesting moments of his career.it all feels totally empty.

Missed opportunity to make a great movie of such a great player.

Not so divine after all 6\10

[saadanathan · 6/10 · 7 July 2021]

"Baggio" is a emotional movie about one of Italy's greatest footballers ever - Roberto Baggio. The movie takes place through his career and his struggle to prove himself as worthy enough.

Although it's a beautiful and inspiring story, the movie in total is just not enough and lacks a lot of features, first of all the time periods are not presented well, it seems like the story is jumping to fast from time to time. I know most of the movie centers around Baggio and Italy's national team during the world cup of 1994 but I would have liked to see Baggio career during Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milano and so on. Besides it seems like the plot doesn't show enough of Baggio's personal life, why there is no scene of his wedding day or when his children were born?, why the plot jumps so fast in time that we don't get to see much of his life?.

In addition, after Italy loses the world cup there is still 40 minutes left of the film to watch where it's mostly Baggio pitting himself and trying to recover from the tragedy in order to still prove himself worthy. Only to be disappointed when he is not called to the squad of Italy for the world cup of 2002.

Overall I thought this movie lacked a lot of features and simple things such as indicating time and setting, even if it's a story a lot will find to be emotional and inspiring, I find it to be not so divine.

What we learn?

[honeyhendesi · 6/10 · 29 May 2021]

I honestly expected more. Not that I did not enjoy it. Fans enjoy watching anything about Baggio but that is a very low bar for a movie. Considering that Baggio has a deep character and a rich and eventful life story, personal and professional, it should not have been so difficult to write a screenplay that can truly portray who the legend is and why he is so loved around the globe even seventeen years after his last match. Unfortunately movie has missed that opportunity. It is still entertaining and nostalgic for Baggio's fans, but by missing lots of important details of his professional life (e.g. Two world cups and four football clubs), I doubt if this movie has anything valuable for those who do not know Baggio. They will not learn anything coherent about Baggio's career or personal life. Even if it meant to be about Baggio's sufferings it has missed the opportunity to be a true inspiring movie. I am asking myself over and over when a non-fan watches this movie can he/she understand why Baggio is so much loved and why people find him so inspiring? And why he is seen as the finest of Italy's football? What people who do not know Baggio will learn about him watching this movie? Except pronouncing his last name wrong, if they watch the English dubbing version of the movie. The original song (Il'uomo dietro il campione) was beautiful and touching and brought tears to my eyes at the end of the movie. Arcangeli did a great job as Baggio.

Missed something important

[peleromera-94172 · 4/10 · 27 May 2021]

I think the movie has its quality, but lets be honest here they left out something very important. We know baggio went back to the 1998 france worldcup, and there he fabricated, very cleverly, his own penalty, and scored, that was his redemption. That should have been the ending.

Happy for Roby, noce but average film

[r-magalashvili · 6/10 · 31 May 2021]

As a life-long fan I am happy there is a film about him. He os probably most underestimated genius in football. But as a film it is pretty average. Felt something is missing.

GOAT

[santarossa-08516 · 10/10 · 27 May 2021]

Baggio was the best, the film actually happened to be a very sad story. For someone that had six knee operations and did what we did was incredible. The film was great I just wished they elaborated a bit more into the 1990 and 1998 World Cups as well. It's near impossible to replicate Baggio but the actor did well. Baggio has been through so much on and off the pitch during his career that I believe this could've been a full series rather than just one movie. This movie will definitely help people understand how much Baggio suffered.

I learned new things about him

[leonardolvs · 7/10 · 30 May 2021]

The movie isn't perfect and it does speed by some important milestones in his life but overall, it tells a decent story of his life, faith and family. If the ending is factual, his father is a true jackass. This movie will likely resonate more with true soccer fans.

It could be done better

[michele-brustia · 6/10 · 29 May 2021]

Good acting, good photography and good directing, but something is missing and the screenplay could be better.

Italians unlucky are not god in doing biopics.

Baggio the Divine Mullet

[pacocharte · 6/10 · 27 May 2021]

Baggio really choked in the 94 FIFA World Cup Finals. This flick might get some more kids interested in soccer/futbol.

Did they show Baggio this movie before releasing it?

[vijayan-rohit · 1/10 · 19 June 2021]

I am not an Italian.. But I idolized this man in 90s..his penalty miss in the WC was heartbreaking.. This movie lacked the emotion that he was. Plain pasta... Instead of a juicy pizza which showed the good moments of his career... Please remake it... Baggio is a legand... He deserves better.

Very disappointed..

[moskeman · 3/10 · 9 June 2021]

Whoever directed this movie it's quite bad.. Entire movie is based actually on things that was, ok, important in Baggio's career, but this movie missed a great opportunity to show how great Baggio was. Today's kids that couldn't see him play live will think of him as of some depressed crybaby, and he never was that. So, an entire side of him is missing. We wanted a movie about who Baggio was on the pitch, and not to have 15 same scenes where Baggio has daddy issues... You can't make movie like this into a drama.. This is biographical movie.. I was looking forward to this one so much, but this looks like a low budget, 3rd grade movie..

Fantastic

[lukemusto-64305 · 8/10 · 31 May 2021]

The film isn't about the results or success of Bagio. It is about his path and battles against adversity.

Baggio deserves better, nobody cares about daddy issues

[lruella · 5/10 · 28 May 2021]

This movie has no pathos, no sense of scale. The reenactment of the world cup games are not believable for one second. They feel like they are playing a backyard game, not the world cup. There is no buildup. Actors are ok, especially the father who is the most charismatic, but in general I was disappointed by the sense of small-scale this movie has. Also no mention of Juventus in an entire movie about the life of Baggio? Too many important part skipped or played underwelmingly in a counterclimatic way and there is almost no sports or action, it's mostly introspective. This is not what Baggio lovers want. This is not a high adrealine sports movie, it's a daddy issues family drama that nobody wanted. Please have this movie re-made by someone else who can rework the script. Is really a woman director a good idea for a movie about a football God? The movie should have been made by someone who really experienced those feelings in the 80s and 90s, I am not being sexist but just realist. The director was probably playing with dolls during those years and didn't care a thing about football.

Not a documentary of Baggio at all

[chrissene · 3/10 · 7 August 2021]

Is this really a documentary about Baggio?

Where is the actual footage from the past?

It didn't even show us how he became a great footballer.

Do not recommend it at all for watching!

Dissapointed.

Great Movie

[xharjeetx · 9/10 · 31 May 2021]

This review is from someone who didnt know about Baggio before watching the movie and so my rating is not about how well and acurately the movie portrays the life of Baggio. But I felt the movie showed some of the greatest life lessons like it is not about the destination but all about the journey. Also the father-son relationship is pretty strongly shown in this movie. Good watch.

A Complete disappointment!

[ashenbinu · 2/10 · 5 June 2021]

There was absolutely no attention paid to some of the key milestone of his career. Acting was so underwhelming and almost all the characters (except for the father) had no life in to them. Took me less than 10 mins to lose the excitement and literally dragged myself to watch the rest. Please do not waste time on this.

A very confused movie

[alexhendra-15428 · 4/10 · 2 June 2021]

Not sure what this movie is trying to tell us about the Il Divin Codino

it skipped a lot of important phases from Baggio's career, and worst is that it didn't even bother to highlight any achievement in his career

his personal life is also not the main focus in the movie

if you have never heard about Baggio, after watching the movie you still have no idea who he is and why is he called Il Divin Codino and why this mediocre and over glorified footballer is even made a movie

if you're his fan, all you get is just disappointment after 90 minutes.

ARE YOU FOR REAL?

[panoutsos1995 · 1/10 · 2 June 2021]

YOU ARE MAKING A FILM ABOUT ROBERTO BAGGIO AND YOU ONLY HAVE TO SHOW THIS PIECE OF SH**????

ITS ONE OF THE BEST PLAYERS EVER... SHAME!

Heartfelt you can see why a game meant so much

[vittorio-13 · 8/10 · 5 June 2021]

When I watched this movie I was surprised in the story did not realize the true story. I watched the final game and I cried. The movie did not sugar coated and that was what important. Is the movie fantastic no. Could have spent more money on the movie since they had the actual game perhaps. I think what was missed by the technical side of the movie it was made up with very acting plus having the actor look like the real guy, added to three realism. I enjoyed this movie and if you love the game of soccer and you love any game this is a great movie for is pirating and the proper of not giving up.

Puuuuuuuh

[friedrich-schulungen · 3/10 · 27 May 2021]

Half-baked potpuri, superficial self-adulation.

Wast of time.