Released four years after the Brazilian national team’s 1970 World Cup victory, Luiz Carlos Barreto’s directorial debut—made with Cinema Novo editor Eduardo Escorel (Entranced Earth, Macunaíma, among many others)—assembles excerpts from seemingly hundreds of hours of footage taken of the record-breaking footballer. On the soundtrack, journalist Sérgio Chapelin tells the story of the Brazilian team’s first three World Cup wins with Pelé as the protagonist. Unlike in Garrincha, the People’s Joy, which studied the inner and public life of its subject, This Is Pelé delights solely in the athlete’s artistry on the field. Escorel’s montage, composed of both black-and-white and gorgeous colour archival material, alights upon small but specific details of its extraordinary subject: his passes, his goals, and the cultish crowds cheering around him. 

4K restoration courtesy of L.C. Barreto Produções Cinematográficas.