Can you name one truly great film about football? Think about it. Go on. I bet you can't.
When Saturday Comes! Pfft. The Football Factory! Nope. Mike Bassett: England Manager! Hmmm... close. But that was a comedy. As was, arguably, Escape to Victory - only nobody told the cast. Or the crew. Or the studio.
Anyway, I digress. My point is that The Damned United is certainly the best movie about football I've ever seen. It's in a fallow field, but that doesn't mean it's not a damn (pun intended) good film in it's own right.
Based on the excellent novel by David Peace (which I highly recommend), this is the story of Brian Clough. Well, some of the story of Brian Clough. It measures him in a time of great success against a time of great failure - the past reflecting against the present, and the choices he made to get there. I find myself increasingly less interested in the poncey, logo-filled, Ronaldo-shaped beautiful game of 2009 and far more intrigued by what it used to be, which this film gloriously revels in. Players hard as nails, grungy matches, far less glamour and ten times the passion. And men like Clough, who they simply don't make anymore. Or if they do make them, they seal them in carbonite and sell them to a fat gangster.
Michael Sheen - fast becoming one of the greatest character actors of his generation - excels as the egotistical, driven and obsessive Clough. His mannerisms are superb and there are times, having acted myself, I'm weeping with sheer envy at his skills. Equally good is Timothy Spall as Peter Taylor, Cloughie's loyal second in command. I've never seen Spall less than excellent in anything, so I'm not surprised. Their chemistry is magnetic and binds the piece together. The heart of it is really about their 'bromance' anyway - how much, in very different ways, they both need each other.
If you're not into football, don't bother. While this is much more about obsession and envy than kicking leather round a field, if you don't know or care who Brian Clough was, you won't really be invested in it. As someone who grew up with football, I do. And I found it a fascinating story about, as the ending states, the best England manager we never had.
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