“In feature
films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director”
Alfred
Hitchcock
If he’d been
alive to see ‘I Believe in Miracles’ the documentary about Nottingham Forest’s
amazing ride from the second division to double European Champions, then Brian
Clough might well have said “and God was the star as well”.
The bravado,
the arrogance and the brimming self confidence of Clough are very much to the
fore in Jonny Owen’s film from 2015, and it’s not hard to see how the driving
personality of the man was able to galvanise a group of players to one of the
most extraordinary sporting accomplishments of it’s time. Viewed through a 21st
century prism, and at a time in 2017 when transfer fees for players are hitting
stratospheric levels, it’s easy to think that what Nottingham Forest achieved
between 1978 and 1980 could never happen again, but seeing such a tale is a
reminder, if anything, of what can be achieved when the perfect storm of a
group of hungry and talented people, galvanised by a charismatic presence comes
together.
It’s a fantastic
subject for a documentary, but that by itself is not what makes it a great
film, it’s the way that the story is captured that makes it a must see.
Documentaries are often based on amazing real life stories, but the way that
they are brought to life by a film maker is what makes, or in some cases doesn’t
make, those stories captivating. By itself, Nottingham Forest, a club that had
never previously won the top division in England before 1978, reaching the
pinnacle of European club football by lifting the extravagantly sized trophy
now known as the Champions League is a wonderful tale. When combined with the mesmeric
televisual personality of Brain Clough as its centre, it might be a challenge
for any account to not be something that sucks you in a viewer, but Owen takes
it to the next level by bringing the story to vivid life through the sights and
sounds that accompany the main narrative.
Some
documentaries rely on the story at their heart to do the heavy lifting, but
around the interviews with the players that were the architects of the accomplishments
and the clips of goals and games that show just why Forest were such a
formidable side, they are glued together by archived television footage that
sets the context of the world of 1970s Nottingham, Britain and Europe in which
the back to back European Cup triumphs took place. You get the full sense of
what the achievements meant to a city often reduced to being the home of Robin
Hood and the sense of pride that the team brought to that community of fans. In
an increasingly globalised footballing world, it’s a link that often seems
under threat.
There is
also the beautifully judged inclusion of the clips from other films, TV shows
and cultural moments that perfectly accompanies the stories from the players’
recollections, a personal highlight being the blending of shots of John Wayne
at The Alamo when describing an onslaught from FC Cologne in the second leg of
the semi-final in 1979. Alongside the pictures, the storming sound track sets
the tone and the mood and transports you back to the late 70s. I guarantee that
after seeing the film, there is no way that the titular track from the Jackson
Sisters won’t be going around and around in your head for days.
It is the
skill of a great editor and interviewer to draw out the captivating recollections,
but from the way the players tell their story, through the humour and the
passion, you can see why they were able to achieve what they did. But of course
the star of the show is Clough. While some of the sound bites may have been
repeated often down the years, when seen within the context of what the team
were achieving and as the run to the first final in Munich goes on, it all
falls into place of what a legend of the game and an icon he truly was. The
account of his fateful time at Leeds United has become well known through the
re-telling of that time, both through the fact and fiction of The Damned United.
I Believe in Miracles acts as an unofficial sequel, picking up the story right
after Clough’s ill-fated time at Elland Road, showing that if you can’t keep a
good man down, you certainly weren’t going to keep a brilliant one.
Regardless
of who you support, this is a tale that needs to be seen. Indeed, the strength
of the film means that regardless of whether you even like football, it’s a story
to be embraced, told in a beautiful way.
"We
used to go to the pictures every Saturday night but we had to leave a little
bit early and get home and watch Match of the Day. My wife still complains she
missed the last five minutes of every film we saw."
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