| The Damned United (2009) |
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| Written by Daniel Cann | |
| Tuesday, 31 March 2009 | |
Based on David Peace’s controversial book of the same title this film focuses on the 44 day tenure of Brian Clough as Manager of Leeds Utd in 1974. At that time Leeds were the top football side in the country and their beloved Manager of 13 years Don Revie, had left to become England Manager. Enter Brian Clough as Revie’s replacement a young, outspoken and bombastic former Manager of archrivals Derby who has been extremely vocal in his criticism of Leeds.
Firstly you do not have to be a fan of football to enjoy ‘The Damned Utd’. Its focus is as much on leadership and friendship as it is the beautiful game. Michael Sheen is excellent as Clough, capturing his personality and nuances with aplomb. Once again as he has done in ‘The Queen’ and ‘Frost/Nixon’ he totally inhabits the character he is portraying. He is Brian Clough. Sheen is well supported in the acting stakes by Timothy Spall as assistant and close friend Peter Taylor. Their relationship is touchingly well conveyed and convincing. Acting plaudits go also to Colm Meaney who is an absolute spitting image of Don Revie and Jim Broadbent as Chairman of Derby County, ‘Uncle’ Sam Longson. This is an excellent character study and I was totally riveted and immersed into the era being depicted. The film’s narrative does jump around a bit with the action switching from Clough’s time at both Leeds and Derby but I managed to follow it and could see why it was necessary in telling its story. It is always hard to do justice to a figure like Brian Clough and it should be noted that this is more about characters drawn from Peace’s book than real life. It is a fiction and not all events portrayed can be accurate but the film totally succeeds in showing Clough as a charismatic, humorous, no-nonsense go-getter. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it both humorous and moving. This one deserves to do well. |
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