Higuita: The Way of the Scorpion review: Enjoyable look at football icon’s rise to success

Higuita: The Way of the Scorpion is a Netflix documentary that captures Football’s titular icon’s rise from humble origins to a successful career, along with a couple of personal controversies.

Story

The documentary follows the early years of Colombia’s legendary Football icon, Rene Higuita, and his regrets about not being able to show to his mother his professional career and success as she passed away before that.

Thereon, the documentary traces his relationship with his partner and the birth of his kids, as he was also climbing the success ladder as a goalie who broke conventions and played unlike any other.

His unruly and fun way of playing led to an image that every Colombian at the time came to recognize and love instantly. Meanwhile, the Colombian team was now, for the first time, winning a great many matches.

However, along with his successful career trajectory, came a personal controversy originating from his friendship with Pablo Escobar. He volunteered to get a kidnapped girl to safety as he was familiar with Escobar.

However, he was soon detained as Escobar broke out of prison and Higuita was accused of knowing about his whereabouts as well as being behind the kidnapping himself.

After Escobar’s death, he was finally released and went on to play more for his country and numerous other teams, as well as win more titles and give birth to some of football’s most iconic moments.

Positives

The fun and frenetic flair that Higuita employed in his game, is translated well over to the documentary’s pace.

The interview clips and bits of the archival footage tell a concise narrative.

Negatives

The documentary lacks a creative flair and feels, at times, too by the book. It also doesn’t delve enough into the personal controversies in detail as it could have.

Verdict

Higuita: The Way of the Scorpion is an enjoyable affair that goes by a bit too fast and without a more compelling narrative or creative decisions. However, like the titular sports icon, it is sure to have one hooked until the end.

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