“This film contains images that some viewers may find distressing,” a title card warns us at the start of Kenny Dalglish, the new documentary by Asif Kapadia, which has world-premiered in the Special Screenings section of the 20th Rome Film Fest. What could be distressing about the extraordinary trajectory of a footballer who became an icon – not among the most widely known worldwide, yet a protagonist of Liverpool FC’s magnificent era spanning the late 1970s and 1980s – only becomes clear halfway through, as the stadiums where Kenny Dalglish plays with his team turn into death traps.

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The Heysel disaster (1985), 39 dead. The Hillsborough disaster (1989), 97 dead. On both occasions, Liverpool were playing. The former was against Juventus (32 of the victims were Italian fans), and the blame lay squarely with rampaging hooligans; the latter, against Nottingham Forest, saw Liverpool supporters unjustly singled out as responsible for the tragedy. At the time of this second event, Dalglish was the team’s manager, and what has gone down as the greatest disaster in the history of English sport left a profound mark on him. It was also an event that changed football fandom forever: from then on, to prevent overcrowding, terraces were phased out in favour of all-seater stadiums.

“Kenny Dalglish has done more than anyone for the people of Liverpool. Yet he’s Scottish.” These words, spoken by none other than Paul McCartney (both are Sirs), encapsulate this working-class footballer who cut his teeth at Celtic Glasgow and then transferred to Liverpool just as the club was losing its idol Kevin Keegan, whom he would become the natural heir to. The film draws on abundant, previously unseen archive material; Dalglish himself provides the voice-over. Electrifying footage of moves on the pitch (“It was like watching Brazil,” someone says) is interwoven with scenes from his private life, and with images of supporters and ordinary people who, in the Thatcher era, were crushed by rampant unemployment, and found solace and redemption in football.

Having already crafted several other portraits of athletes (Ayrton Senna in Senna [+lee también:
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entrevista: Asif Kapadia
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Kenny Dalglish was produced by UK outfits Tap23, Lafcadia Productions and Redrum Films. Its world sales are handled by Altitude Film Sales.