The Damned United : Movie Review

Cast: Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney, Stephen Graham, Jim Broadbent

Writers: Peter Morgan, David Peace

Director: Tom Hooper

I don’t normally review Hollywood movies but I do have a great liking for British cinema. After his amazing performance as TV broadcaster David Frost in Frost/Nixon, Michael Sheen plays yet another real-life personality, legendary British football manager, Brian Clough.

The Damned United is a big screen adaptation of the fiction novel, of the same name, based on real events about the turbulent 44 days Brian Clough spent at the helm of Leeds United before being sacked. I have to admit, I am no Clough expert, but his record at Derby County and Nottingham Forest, both of whom got promoted out of the Second Division (now called The Championship) and went on to win the First Division (now The Premiership) under Brian Clough speaks for itself. The latter even tasted back-to-back European success with Forest within years of being promoted to the top flight of football. But in between his stints at these club, Clough spent 6 weeks as manager of Leeds United in 1974, which was the darkest time of his illustrious career.

The movie is woven around real people but the events in those 44 days are fictional. Clough is fired by Derby County, even though he won them a league title, because he is very outspoken against the chairman. He is offered the job at Leeds United, then the biggest club in England, but separated from his right-hand man, Peter Taylor who is described as the ‘goods in the back of the shop’ while Clough is ‘the shop window’, and confronted with a squad of footballers loyal to their previous manager, Don Revie, Clough experiences all kinds of trouble trying to get the team to function and his big ambitions are dealt a severe blow.

Michael Sheen is hilarious and delivers an incredibly captivating performance as the mercurial manager. You discover a witty Clough, with his famous one-liners, for e.g when he proclaims that he is not the best manager in England but he’s definitely in the top one. Clough was the first true Special One and Mourinho is never going to come even close to how controversial and outspoken Clough was. The movie captures the over-confidence of Clough as well as the touching sight of his plight (especially when he kneels down and begs Taylor to get back with him), which was not often visible to the public.

British cinema is, for me the most genuine cinema I have ever experienced. After ‘This Is England’ and the various masterpieces from Danny Boyle, this movie made my evening!! Don’t miss the 1hr38mins of an amazing fictional documentary of ‘the best manager England never had’.

Movie Rating : 4 out of 5