Feature | Lights, Camera, Action! – Believe (Movie Review)

By Freda Cooper 21.07.2014

Image for Feature | Lights, Camera, Action! – Believe (Movie Review)

Believe (UK Rating: PG)

Football films don't always enjoy the best of reputations - just utter the words Escape to Victory - even though the likes of Bend it Like Beckham and The Damned United helped restore the balance. Sadly, they are in the minority, however. Actor Brian Cox, star of Believe, which is released this Friday in selected cinemas and available on Sky Movies from 25th July, recalls working on A Shot at Glory, which starred Robert Duvall as a Bill Shankly-type manager. It was, says a chuckling Cox, "a preposterous idea!"

Thankfully Believe, which sees Cox playing legendary Manchester United manager Sir Matt Busby, isn't in that league; it's somewhere closer to midfield.

Image for Feature | Lights, Camera, Action! – Believe (Movie Review)

Busby (Cox) has retired from football and, apart from occasional expeditions to the races, is finding it tedious. When his wallet is lifted by a young tearaway, Georgie (Jack Smith), he tracks him down and discovers the boy has a real talent for football, and so they strike a deal. The police won't hear about the theft as long as Georgie and his footie-mad friends allow Busby to be their coach. There's an under-12s tournament to go in for, but Georgie's mum (Natascha McElhone) stands in the way; she wants her son to concentrate on school.

There are no star appearances from big footballing names: this is all about grass roots, community sport, and a moment in the history of the game. This little footballing fantasy openly wears its heart on its sleeve, yet it never quite topples over the edge into sentimentality. The reason for that is because of Busby's memories of the Munich air disaster back in 1958. Twenty-three people died in the crash, including a number of Manchester United's most promising team members - the Busby Babes - but despite multiple injuries, Busby survived. It was an event that left its mark on the man, the club, and the city, and in Believe the memories come flooding back, even though the film is set over 25 years after the crash.


 

The 'Babes' themselves put in a misty appearance towards the end of the film in a scene reminiscent of baseball movie, Field of Dreams. However, instead of "if you build it, they will come," the best the film can muster is "dare to be wise," the motto of the Grammar School Georgie's mum wants him to attend. In truth, the film's title says it much better.

Busby feels an affinity with young Georgie; his own father died in World War I and so never saw his success, and Georgie's father was killed in a car crash, so didn't know of his son's talent with a ball. A crash was also responsible for robbing Busby of a number of people he cared about. Those parallels reinforce his desire to turn the keen-but-ramshackle group of youngsters into a proper team.

What really makes the film worth watching, however, is the acting from the older members of the cast - Cox, Anne Reid as his devoted wife, and Philip Jackson as his best mate, Bob. Cox puts in an excellent performance as the dour Scotsman, slow to smile and haunted by Munich, but still full of love for his beloved football and equally beloved wife. His scenes with Anne Reid have the comfort and familiarity of people who have known each other for years. Jackson's Bob makes a perfect foil for Busby, encouraging him to just enjoy himself and then finding himself the reluctant assistant manager of an under-12 football team.

Image for Feature | Lights, Camera, Action! – Believe (Movie Review)

Young Jack Smith, who plays Georgie, admits to being an aspiring footballer and it shows in the film. However, if that doesn't work out, he could always give acting a shot as he gives a good performance. In fact, all the young actors in the team see their careers in sport, so the fact that they manage to create individual characters rather than blurring into a mass of football shirts is a credit to the film's director, David Scheinmann.

6/10
Rated 6 out of 10

Good

Essentially a Sunday afternoon film, Believe is a warm-hearted piece of football whimsy aimed at the whole family. Some good performances just about lift it above the ordinary and, ultimately, it's a likeable family film that will appeal mainly to the football lovers in the house. Until the start of the new season, that is...

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