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. 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.
Review of United
United
(I) (2011)
An informative and artistically accomplished TV film about the Munich disaster
16 August 2023