"The Damned United"

“The Damned United” is a film based on the novel by David Peace and the true life story of Brian Clough, one of the best known British football (soccer) managers and, more specifically, his 44 days as head of the championship Leeds United team. Written by Peter Morgan and directed by Tom Hooper, the main character is portrayed by actor Michael Sheen (“Frost/Nixon”, “The Queen”) who shares not only the same initials as Meryl Streep but also the uncanny and wonderful ability to step into a part and, without mimicry, become the character he or she plays. With all that being said about Mr. Sheen, the movie is lacking for one obvious reason… hardly any U.S. viewer will know or have any identification with the real life Mr. Clough as opposed to those in Great Britain who consider him almost a household name. I would analogize this to the making of a film about the life of Babe Ruth and then exhibiting it to an audience in a foreign country who had never heard of the “bambino”. Here I believe Mr. Morgan has failed the non-British viewer for he limits his story to the 44 days of Leeds management with flashbacks only over the prior 5 years under the assumption that the world audience will know the rest of Mr. Clough’s story and his amazing accomplishments, many of which occurred subsequent to the time period covered by the film. As indicated in a post-screening seminar that I attended, Mr. Clo ugh was a once rising soccer star himself who became a manager solely as a result of his experiencing a career ending injury as an aspiring young player. This information never makes its way to the screenplay and, in my opinion, would have given the audience much more insight and understanding into and about this complicated and unique sports figure. All that being said, the saving grace for this film is the superb acting of Mr. Sheen whose effort helps it achieve the 2 and ½ star rating I give it.