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Pelé: Birth of a Legend | 2016 | PG | - 1.3.1

The story of the legendary Brazilian soccer star Pelé, and how he changed soccer. With Vincent D'Onofrio, Rodrigo Santoro, Diego Boneta, Colm Meaney, Tonya Cornelisse, Kevin de Paula, Seu Jorge and Leonardo Lima Carvalho. Directed by Jeff & Michael Zimbalist. [1:47]

SEX/NUDITY 1 - A husband and his wife kiss. A husband and his wife hug in a couple of scenes. A pre-teen boy throws a kiss to a teen girl and later winks at her. A sign in a bar states something about "loose women."
 A pre-teen boy is shown shirtless in several scenes and we see his bare chest, abdomen and back.

VIOLENCE/GORE 3 - Several pre-teen boys steal bags of peanuts and run from men chasing them across railroad tracks and down a steep hill as it begins to downpour; one boy hurts his ankle and he and another boy hide in a hole as the men pass, until a mudslide traps one boy and we see him being pulled out of the hole limp as the other boy cries (one of the men carries the boy's body back to his home).
 There are several violent shoves and falls during soccer matches. Teenage boys mock pre-teen boys and call them names, one is smacked in the face and they fight (one boy has a bloody nose and mouth). A teen boy falls during a soccer match and we hear a crunch (he hurt his knee and we see him using crutches for a while). A teen boy picks a smaller boy up by the throat. Teenage boys mock a pre-teen boy and call him names and one of them kicks a ball at him spilling a bucket of water on the floor. A couple of boys push a younger boy into a trough of water and he throws mud at them (we see the boys being punished by their mother later as she pulls their ears). A woman smacks a boy on the head. A man steals a soccer ball after a match and an official chases him.
 A teen boy falls on the ground when trying to kick a mango off a tree (he is OK). Several pre-teen boys run through streets and kick a ball in a few scenes. Several pre-teen boys hide on a roof and listen to a soccer match through a hole.
 Several soccer players are shown with bloody cuts on their legs and arms after a match. A man gets a shot in the arm. We see people living in squalor in Brazil.
 We see and hear about slave fighting and the movements influencing Brazilian soccer. A woman talks about her husband having played soccer and that he had to stop after he was injured. A 15-year-old boy leaves home to train to play soccer. We hear that teen boys robbed a store and that one ended up in jail for a year. A man says, "The spirit of our country has died." A character makes reference to someone "Missing a finger," another person having "one leg shorter than the other."
 A teen boy vomits and we see goo and hear splatter. A pre-teen boy and his father work in a hospital and we see the boy emptying a bedpan full of urine as some of it spills on the floor; the man is shown cleaning a filthy toilet. A pre-teen boy practices soccer moves using a rip mango and if he is not gentle enough the fruit splatters on him.

LANGUAGE 1 - 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (the shoeless ones, fatty, four eyes, misfit, abnormal, mixed race), 1 religious profanity (GD).

SUBSTANCE USE - A man gets a shot of something in the arm. Men drink beer from bottles and smoke cigarettes in a few scenes, a man stumbles and drinks from a bottle while walking on a street (presumably alcohol), a man drinks alcohol and smokes a cigar, men drink beer in a bar and a young girl dips her finger in the foam of one glass, and a man is shown sleeping in a cart and holding a bottle (presumably alcohol).

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Brazilian style soccer, 1958 World Cup, insecurity, failure, success, poverty, disappointment, death of a friend, class distinctions, grief, pride, doubt, tradition.

MESSAGE - Have the courage to embrace who you are. Our differences make us beautiful.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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