Walter Beckenbauer

The three-part documentary “Beckenbauer – The Last Emperor” chronicles a life so exuberant it feels as though it were more than one. Torsten Körner, who co-wrote the highly acclaimed biography “Der freie Mann” with Franz Beckenbauer 20 years ago, has crafted a historically precise, at times nostalgic journey through life that connects Beckenbauer’s private life with his public one, the real with the imaginary. From Munich’s “Giesing” neighborhood—known as the “Glasscherbenviertel”—to the hearts of the German people and ever higher, all the way to New York; from the 1966 World Cup to becoming a global figure; and as the “Emperor” and a “beacon of light,” to the most famous German in the world: “Beckenbauer – The Last Emperor” illustrates, as rarely before, what constituted the modernity of both the soccer player and the “pop star” Beckenbauer.

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He is considered one of the most important athletes in football history. Franz Beckenbauer was the shining light of German football, won everything there was to win in club football as a player and coach, became world champion as a player and coach and, as the father of the "Summer Fairy Tale", brought the 2006 World Cup to Germany. He was also a pioneering advertising icon and an occasional singer and actor. The man whom everyone in his home country simply calls “Kaiser” shaped the image of the Federal Republic of Germany like no one else. The legendary footballer seems like a national treasure today, but little is known about the person behind the ball artist. Public knowledge of his private life is shaped by his long-term relationships with four women. The documentary, completed shortly before his death, uses archive material and prominent contemporary witnesses from sports, politics and entertainment to weave both facets into a look at a life's work with light and shadow.

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