The Damned United

The Damned United is a film about the legendary British football manager Brian Clough and his time as manager of Leeds United, which only lasted 44 days. It is adapted from the book of the same name by David Pearce and is an interesting insight into the history of football.

Before moving to Leeds United, Brian Clough had worked with Derby County, alongside Peter Taylor, and had enjoyed enormous success. Before he took over, Derby were at the bottom of the old Second Division and Clough helped them to win the First Division and play in the European Cup. The film (and book) present Clough as obsessed with Leeds United and their manager, Don Revie, since they played each other in the FA Cup and Revie ignored him. Brian Clough was a very outspoken man and frequently made comments in the press against Leeds United. However, after he left Derby County and agreed to join Brighton & Hove Albion with Taylor, Leeds United made him an offer because Revie had taken the England job. Clough goes to Leeds without Taylor and things very quickly fall apart. His unique style of management was foreign to everything the Leeds players had known under Revie, and is sacked after 44 days.

Michael Sheen is fantastic as Brian Clough. He does very well to get the tone and speaking style of Brian Clough very near to perfect. His mannerisms in television interviews are also fantastically detailed. Sheen does an excellent job of conveying the character of Clough as well. He comes across as a man who just wants to win. His short temper and hunger for victory is seen continually throughout the film, and the audience often feels a bit sorry for Clough as his reign at Leeds seems doomed before it even began. Sheen has a bit of a knack for playing famous men with such skill and ability that you almost forget who the actor is.

Timothy Spall plays Clough’s assistant manager Peter Taylor. Personally I think he does very well and is exceptionally likeable. Both Clough and Taylor come across as exceptionally good friends in this film, which of course they were, and both Sheen and Spall do a good job to present this so enjoyably. There are a number of minor characters who do very well. Jim Broadbent is thoroughly dislikable as the chairman of Derby County, and this is fantastic acting from Broadbent. I don’t think I've seen a film in which I've disliked Broadbent’s character too much, but The Damned United is definitely him at his most despicable. The actors who play the Leeds United team do very well too. They feel like a strong unit of players and come across as a small family for the parts of the film when they are on-screen. The flashbacks to the past with Don Revie as manager only serve to reinforce this, and when Clough arrives at Elland Road (Leeds United’s home ground) he never fits in. From the first image of the players standing around looking at their new celebrity manager it is apparent that Clough’s time at Leeds will be short-lived. These actors do very well to convey such hostility as a group.

The Damned United book is very gripping and fantastically entertaining because of the way it is laid out chronologically. The film does a fantastic job of translating this exciting story to the screen. In both the book and the film Clough’s time at Leeds is interspersed with his success at Derby so that by the time he is sacked as Leeds manager he is also leaving Derby. This serves to make the book seem very cyclical, and while the film missed out on this slightly, the scene at the end where Clough and Taylor make up serves to complete the notion that all is well again. Indeed the little montage at the end shows just how successful this partnership would be. However, the Clough family, who are largely critical of the book, maintain that neither the book nor the film truly represent what actually happened. Many people in football have said that the film isn't a great representation of the truth, and some have said that the film plays up the friendship between Clough and Taylor.

I don’t think that this is a massive problem though, because regardless of whether the film is a detailed historical account or not, the basic ideas are there. Clough was critical of Leeds, and then became their manager. The more recent example of Rafael Benitez as Chelsea manager shows just how difficult this can make your job. The filmmakers wanted to focus on the ideas of jealousy and betrayal more than historical accuracy, and for the purposes of cinematic entertainment, this works perfectly. It’s a very enjoyable film and serves to inform people about the ups and downs of football.

Personally, as a massive football fan, I really enjoyed The Damned United, and it should definitely appeal to other football fans. If you are not a football fan though, this doesn't mean that you won’t enjoy it. I watched this with my girlfriend, who is very apathetic when it comes to all things football, and she really enjoyed it as well. It is a very entertaining film and, despite some historical inaccuracies, has fantastic actors playing fantastic characters. All round, The Damned United is sure to provide some entertainment.

Senna

‘Senna’ is a documentary film about the life of Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna. It is a film which tells you all about his career as a driver, his personal life as a hero in his home country, and his relationship with many different people, from the drivers he raced against to the people of Brazil. It is a fantastic film, and best of all, it can appeal to non-racing fans as well.

Personally, as I mention in the introduction post, I am a massive Formula One fan, and so naturally, a documentary about (arguably) the greatest driver to have ever lived is right up my street. However, it is not entirely about motor sport. A lot of the time, I got the feeling that it was a documentary about the trials and tribulations of a man who happened to be a racing driver. I think I’m going to review Senna from two points of view: the racing fan and the non-racing fan.

Firstly, for a documentary about Formula One, Senna is an absolute must-see. The footage in the film presents a journey through Senna’s career which you just cannot get from the history books. The way it presents his breakthrough race at Monaco is wonderful, and even the non-racing fan can find themself emotionally engaged in the film. It’s a weird experience when you are watching a film and you find yourself viewing the world through the eyes of the protagonist. At one point during his career, Senna and Prost collided at a corner in Japan, and Senna was forced to use the exit road to rejoin the race. He went on to win the race, and the world championship as well. However, his use of the exit road was deemed to be illegal (because it was) and he was disqualified. This is where the film gets fantastic because you find yourself genuinely disappointed, and with a distinct sense of injustice.

The racing side of the film generally focuses on the rivalry between three-time world champion Senna and four-time champion Alain Prost. This is one of the most famous and most thrilling rivalries of racing history. Because the film focuses on Senna, it inevitably portrays Prost as the bad guy, and the audience seems to develop some feeling of dislike towards him. While it is good that the film is so emotionally charged and engaging, many have criticised its portrayal of Prost, and the man himself even spoke out about how the film neglects to mention that they became good friends in the last months of Senna’s life. As a result of this, when you see Prost bearing Senna’s coffin at his funeral, you are a little bemused. The film presents Prost as ‘the enemy’ and so it’s a bit strange that he’s carrying the coffin.

However, this is the only real downside about the film. I thought that the coverage of the death of Senna was absolutely incredible. This is a subject that many have tried to cover, and many have failed. ‘Senna’ absolutely nails it. The build up to his crash is very imposing, and there is a distinct sense that something bad is about to happen. Those with foreknowledge about what happens will feel a big sense of foreboding, and those who do not know about Senna’s death can tell that something is about to happen. Some of the footage of his death is dealt with absolutely magnificently. It is in perfect taste, not focusing too much on what killed him, but not shying away from the details of his death.

However, Senna was not just a racing driver. The film tells you all about the massive contribution he made to Brazil, especially his hometown of Sao Paulo. This is where the non-racing fans can fill their boots. Just seeing the way that Senna was thought of in Brazil is absolutely incredible. The emotion that the public showed upon his winning the Brazilian Grand Prix, or just a simple visit is incredible. You definitely have the sense that this man was a national hero whose popularity transcended his success. Senna devoted a lot of time and money to improving Brazil at a time when the only thing worth celebrating was his success. Simply the number of people that lined the streets when his body was returned home is emotional enough. There is a good balance of racing and home life, and this serves to remind people that, while he was one of the all-time racing greats, he was also a wonderful philanthropist who never forgot where he came from.

Overall, Senna is a magnificent film, and a superb documentary. It is such an emotional journey through his life, and I think it would be very hard to watch this film and not engage to the extent that you feel emotions in line with what’s happening on the screen. It can appeal to racing fans and non-racing fans alike, and this is why it is so good. It is not just a film documenting Senna’s racing career, or the story of an incredibly charitable man, but both. It marries the two characters perfectly to produce an absolutely wonderful film. If you are interested in finding out more about this man then Senna should be your source of information. 

Raging Bull

Raging Bull is widely lauded as Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece, but it’s also the kind of film that people disagree on. It’s about the boxer Jake La Motto, who has a dazzling career ahead of him, but his personal issues, such as his anger and his love of food, ruin his family life and then his career. He ends up washed up and overweight performing jokes to a crowd who are not laughing, estranged from his wife, children and brother.

I thought it was a very good film, and enjoyed it greatly, but equally I could see how people would find it boring and dull. There’s not much that actually happens, and the film moves at a very slow pace. The fight scenes have been criticised as being unrealistic, but I think they are meant to be more artistic, and should be interpreted as Jake La Motto looking back on his fights. Nevertheless, love it or hate it, you have to sit back and admire Martin Scorsese’s direction once again. For me, he is the greatest director of his time. His choice to produce Raging Bull as a black and white film increases the artistic feel to the film, and I felt much more connected with the memory of the protagonist for it. But this may just be me.

Robert de Niro, working with Scorsese for the fourth time in his career, is absolutely masterful in this film. Not only does he manage to play a lead character who is totally and utterly dislikable, but he does it perfectly. He has played bad guys before, and he has played guys who should be dislikable, such as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, but in Raging Bull his character doesn't even has a drive or a motive to make the audience empathise with him. Personally, I didn't even pity his character at the end of the film when his wife leaves him and he becomes a washed up failed sportsman. Raging Bull is also a dedication to how much de Niro likes to throw himself into every role he plays. There are some impressive stories of him doing this, but for Raging Bull he gained 60 pounds of weight to play Jake in his older days. 60 pounds! That’s just over four stone. He captures every single aspect of his character, from the ambitious boxer to the man who hits his wife, begs her back and then does it again. In my opinion, Robert de Niro is the greatest actor, not just of his time, but of all time.

Joe Pesci stars in Raging Bull, making his first appearance on a Scorsese movie, and performing admirably as Jake’s brother and manager. His patience with his brother is admirable, and the audience really begins to sympathise with him when Jake starts to throw his life away. However, there is a sense of ‘something coming’ throughout the movie, and when Jake begins to get paranoid about his wife, he attacks his brother, believing him to have slept with her. This leads to a period where they don’t talk, and the scene where they are eventually reunited is one of my favourites. Jake tries to make amends with his brother, and Joe Pesci delightfully portrays a character who is so sick of his brother’s ways that he just doesn't care. On the basis of this film it is not hard to see why Scorsese wanted to work with Pesci again: he is simply excellent.

Cathy Moriarty plays Jake’s wife Vikki. She starts the film as being beautiful and desirable. However, mainly due to Scorsese’s direction, she becomes more and more ruined by having Jake in her life. When he hits her for the first time, Moriarty’s response is perfect. Instead of leaving him like the perfect wife would in Hollywood, she does what is most common in cases of domestic abuse, and believes it is a one-off event. Now I don’t want to get onto domestic violence because it is too sensitive an issue for my humble blog, but when she eventually does leave him, and takes her children with her, I found myself delighted, and feeling that Jake deserves everything he gets.

People have lauded Raging Bull as the best sports movie ever made. Now this is a claim I disagree with. I think that the movie is not a sports film. Undeniably it focuses on the life and career of a boxer, but for me the movie is more about his life and his character than it is about the sports. For an out-and-out sports movie, Rocky would be my first choice, just because it focuses more on the sport and less on his character.

At the start of the film, Jake is surrounded by people who all adore this future boxing star. However throughout the film, one by one these people leave him and by the end of the film, he is standing alone in his dressing room reciting lines for his show that few turn up to. Raging Bull is an absolute classic. Many people disagree on whether it is brilliant or boring, but I think that you should see it for yourself and making your own mind up. Personally, I loved it, and I consider it to be one of those films that you just have to see.