The Damned United (Film)

THE DAMNED UNITED
Tom Hooper
UK, 2009
01/04/09

The Damned United tells the story of Brian Clough's (Michael Sheen) success as manager at Derby county and subsequent tenure at Leeds United that ended after only forty-four days. It's a film that probably won't do as well as it should at the box-office due to many mistakenly taking the plot to mean it is a film about football, but this is a shame as it is actually a study of Clough's friendship with Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall) and his vicious obsession with Leeds United and their manager in particular, Don Revie (Colm Meaney), who's shadow he prophetically puts himself in.
The film's narrative switches between Clough's 1974 stint at Leeds and the previous six years at Derby which chart the rise of the club and Clough's rivalry with Revie. It all starts with a cup tie in which Derby are on the receiving end of the Leeds team's infamous dirty tactics and Don Revie, in Clough's eyes, refuses to shake his hand. This leads to a determination that, the film argues, lays the foundation for Clough dragging Derby up the Football league by the scruff of the neck.

But all that is merely background because in truth this could be based around any competing personalities in any sport or any kind of competitive enterprise within life. Clough is a cocky young upstart who will not be bettered and his personality is as much to blame as any other person for the turmoils he suffers. He's like a hero from Greek tragedy; a brave noble man, yet he has his fatal flaw and in this case it is his arrogance and that leads to his major downfall; his sacking from Derby and estrangement from Peter Taylor. Yet this arrogance that fuels his dry wit is what makes him indelibly charming and it is a personality that has as much worth to be on the big screen as any other.

Sheen's portrayal of the man is remarkable: the way he curls his tongue or his little winks that are barely noticeable yet bring the spirit of the man to the screen. But this is not an impersonation; instead it seems as if Sheen has chosen only the gestures that relate to the man's emotions. He isn't throwing around those mischievous little smiles simply because it was Clough's habit, he does it because it reveals something inside his head at that moment, some fleeting emotion that's all to quickly gone. In fact it's a blessing that this film has Sheen because it wouldn't succeed without him. The script (written by Peter Morgon) doesn't devote much time to the psychology or feelings of Clough and it is left to Sheen to convey this in silence when the camera lingers on him, and it's something he does effortlessly, one particular moment being the mixture of anger, embarrassment and shame when sat in an empty t.v. studio after a surprise interview alongside his nemesis Revie where it's all there in his eyes. In fact all the performances are superb. Spall, who probably out of all the actors looks the most unlike the character he is portraying, is a good polar opposite to Clough, and the man many saw as the real genius behind his success (and to this day is still regarded as one of the finest talent scouts in the history of English Football), as well as Jim Broadbent's Derby chairman who seems to embody the typical unadventurous and boring seventies man so well.

The late sixties and early seventies are evoked well and all credit should go to the production design and the photographers. Tom Hooper, fully aware that his film is a period piece frames his characters at every opportunity in the typical seventies landscape that surrounds them (Cinematographer Ben Smithard has some experience of shooting period pieces having worked on the BBC's recent Cranford series), thus we get a film that trades closeups for medium shots, showing the characters as a product of their time. When Clough is on the training pitch before his cup match we can see rows and rows of council houses behind him, kids play in typical working class, wet and muddy streets and all the stadiums look worn and dilapidated, the paint peeling and the pitches basically a deluge. There's also the little things too like the drab colors of the furniture, the anachronistic patterns on the wallpaper and fish and chips being served in newspaper. It is difficult not to be fully immersed in the era for the duration of the film.

This isn't the only way in which the photography succeeds. Care is taken to show Clough in space, usually to one side of the frame to emphasize his loneliness with the world, or at least his trouble in getting on with people. It gives us a sense of how the Clough's desire for glory meant he had trouble fitting in anywhere, and it is probably a style forced on by the scripts lack of depth, but if you can express all these emotions in the acting, photography and scenery then it is maybe a blessing to scriptwriters who can then concentrate on a tighter and more condensed script.

But then again, an extra ten minutes wouldn't go amiss, and these could probably be found by wringing a bit of time from the distracting intertitle sequences from which the information could be presented elsewhere quicker. We aren't really shown much of either Clough's nor Taylor's family life except that it sometimes exacerbates their wives, and we only get a fleeting look at his relationship with the Derby players. There are also several contrived sequences such as how Clough always manages to hear what the Leeds players say behind closed doors and a late night drunken phone call to Don Revie which no doubt never happened. But real life is more dramatic then cinema and for us to be able to know what it felt like to be there sometimes the story needs to be exaggerated for the screen; the film after all is never trying to imply it is anything beyond entertainment.

And it's very good entertainment at that. The script may have a few faults but one of it's successes is that it is extremely funny, and it doesn't feel the need to pander to fans of football. There aren't many jokes, instead most of the humor comes from the personality of the characters, Clough's wit meaning much of this was pre-written, but all the other characters have their moments, one such moment being when Broadbent's chairman discovers Clough has signed a new player: "£300 pound!" he says alarmed, "You can't pay players that!" This humour and heart leads to a pleasurable viewing experience that is highly recommended which i personally look forward to seeing again.