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United (2011) (TV)

Director:
James Strong
COUNTRY
UK
GENRE
Sports/History
NORWEGIAN TITLE
United
RUNNING TIME
90 minutes
Producer:
Julia Stannard
Screenwriter:
Chris Chibnall


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Jimmy Murphy David Tennant ½
Bobby Charlton Jack O'Connell
Duncan Edwards Sam Claflin ½
Matt Busby Dougray Scott
Bert Whalley Dean Andrews
Alma George Kate Ashfield
Harold Hardman David Calder
Alan Hardaker Neil Dudgeon
Tommy Skinner Tim Healy
Cissie Charlton Melanie Hill
Eddie Colman Philip Hill-Pearson
Mark Jones Thomas Howes

 

Review

Truthful and conscientious rendition of The Busby Babes' infamous Munich disaster, seen through the eyes of assistant manager Jimmy Murphy (wonderfully played by David Tennant). The film's great production values bring this TV movie on par with high-quality cinematic experiences; it is filmed with a wonderful set of lenses which capture the time in question in a wondrous, almost mythical way. And of the many possible character relations the focus is on a handful few (notably Murphy and Bobby Charlton), something which works quite well for this format. Covering more ground could have become messy and would arguably have required a different format. As it is now, however, United is an informative and artistically accomplished film, albeit with a few factual errors and shortcomings, but that seems almost inevitable when filming an incident as well-known, discussed and documented as this one.

Copyright © 29.03.2016 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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