THE DAMNED UNITED
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2009 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
THE DAMNED UNITED beautifully demonstrates that, if you pair a truly gifted
screenwriter with terrific actors, cinematic magic is possible, perhaps even
likely. Michael Sheen, who first came to the attention of most U.S. viewers
in his mesmerizing performance as Tony Blair in THE QUEEN, is the star of
THE DAMNED UNITED. Playing legendary soccer coach Brian Clough, a man with
enormous ambition and a nearly infinite sense of self-importance, Sheen
appears to get every nuance of his character's peculiarities just right.
In addition to a support casting filled with some of Britain's very best
actors, Sheen is joined by screenwriter Peter Morgan, whose script for
FROST/NIXON was quite correctly nominated for an Academy Award. Both
FROST/NIXON and THE DAMNED UNITED take subjects which appear to have a very
limited appeal and turn them into riveting stories that have audiences glued
to their seats. One would suspect that it would be impossible to make a
series of television interviews of an ex-president compelling cinematic
material. Similarly, it might seem nearly impossible to make an unknown
coach of a relatively unpopular sport interesting to American viewers.
Morgan, however, makes both subjects both fascinating and funny in
FROST/NIXON and THE DAMNED UNITED.
Although he succeeds as a humorist, it is as a dramatist that Morgan really
makes his mark. Morgan turns Clough into a man of Shakespearean
proportions, filled with foibles.
The film, directed deftly by Tom Hooper, cuts seamlessly between 1973, when
Clough has just taken the job of a lifetime as the manager of Leeds United,
and 1969, when he is seen managing Derby County, a second division team at
the bottom of the rankings.
In a television interview, Clough offers up his usually cocky
self-assessment, telling the interviewer, "I wouldn't say I was the best
manager in the country, but I'm in the top one."
Although Clough owes much of his success to his assistant Peter Taylor
(Timothy Spall), who has a gift when it comes to finding and recruiting
players, and to the Derby Chairman of the Board Sam Longson (Jim Broadbent),
who allows Clough to almost bankrupt the club buying questionable players,
Clough is perfectly willing to throw everyone under the bus to satisfy his
need to win at all cost. His supreme ambition and his willingness to cut
corners is ironic, since his chief complaint against lifelong rival, Don
Revie (Colm Meaney), is that his team, Leeds United, are brawlers who cheat
their way to the top.
Rather than act like he has died and gone to heaven, Clough treats his offer
of taking over from Revie like it was his God-given right to assume the
position as the manager of Leeds United. Seeing Clough treat his new
players with disdain, the story becomes one in which you know that Clough is
destined to get his comeuppance. The only questions are how soon it will
come and how hard he will fall. This, in turn, generates another question
about whether he will even be capable of recovery. Using archival footage
of the real Clough, Revie and Taylor, the epilogue answers this question
sufficiently and succinctly.
Academy members will probably consider this movie too small and the subject
too obscure to warrant Oscar considerations, but, in my book, there are many
award-worthy parts to it, most notably the script and the acting, especially
by Sheen.
THE DAMNED UNITED runs 1:37. It is rated R for "language" and would be
acceptable for kids around 10 and up.
The film is playing in nationwide release now in the United States. In the
Silicon Valley, it is showing at the Cinemark theaters and the Camera
Cinemas.
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