At Cannes, ‘The Match’ Reexamines Maradona’s 1986 ‘Hand of God’

Overview

• The Argentine documentary El Partido, shown at the Cannes Film Festival, revisits the 1986 England–Argentina quarter-final through new on-camera accounts.
• Contributors include England’s Gary Lineker, Peter Shilton and John Barnes, alongside Argentina’s Julio Olarticoechea and Jorge Valdano.
• The film reports that a reporter at an Italian news agency coined the phrase “Hand of God” rather than Diego Maradona.
• It frames the match through the Falklands War’s lasting emotions and highlights the long-disputed Geoff Hurst goal from 1966 to suggest mirrored grievances.
• The afterlife of the game features prized artifacts and images, including Maradona’s No. 10 shirt later sold for £7.1 million and a handball photo that the filmmakers say agencies appropriated from a Mexican photographer.