6.1
A young, gifted soccer player who gets into trouble for a petty crime is brought to the attention of former Manchester United coach Matt Busby, who comes out of retirement to help the boy and his teammates.
Natascha McElhone
Erica Gallagher
Brian Cox
Matt Busby
Toby Stephens
Dr. Farquar
Kate Ashfield
Helen
Anne Reid
Jean Busby
Philip Jackson
Bob
Richard Strange
Father Brian
Jack Smith
Georgie Gallagher
Danny Scheinmann
Billy
Joshua Dunne
Steve
Finlay Preston
Frankie
Harry Armes
Harry
Jack Armes
Barry
Sam Wisniewski
Paul
Aine O'Duffy
Sinead
Spencer Jack Phillips
Spence
Peter Dale
Referee
Lucas Boylan
Lions Youth Brass Band Member
Samuel Boylan
Lions Youth Brass Band Member
Robert Dakin
Lions Youth Brass Band Member
Jordan Edge
Lions Youth Brass Band Member
Jack Gresty
Lions Youth Brass Band Member
Rhys Kerry
Lions Youth Brass Band Member
Harry Mace
Lions Youth Brass Band Member
Edwin Morris
Lions Youth Brass Band Member
Luke Murphy
Lions Youth Brass Band Member
Christopher Parker
Lions Youth Brass Band Member
Michael Parker
Lions Youth Brass Band Member
Oliver Smedley
Lions Youth Brass Band Member
William Gordon
LGS Boys Team
Ryan Wakelam
LGS Boys Team
Scott Cooper
LGS Boys Team
Luke Mills Flemming
LGS Boys Team
Paul Stanley
LGS Boys Team
Stephen Stanley
LGS Boys Team
Abe Lisberg
LGS Boys Team
Raif Clarke
Bailey
Jon-Paul Gates
Journalist
David Annen
Journalist
Daniel Swann
Bobby Charlton
Malcolm Raeburn
Exam Master
Luke Todd
Helen's Fella
Tony Sweeney
LGS Coach
Roy Rigby
The Mayor
Jessie Wright
Mayor's Wife
Director, Writer
David Scheinmann
Story, Writer
Massimiliano Durante
Story, Writer
Carmelo Pennisi
May 15, 2015
6
Oh Manchester, so much to answer for.
Believe is a British football movie that finds the legendary Sir Matt Busby (Brian Cox) coaching a kids 7 a side football team. Matt Busby was the manager of Manchester United Football Club, who lost their team of starlets (known as The Busby Babes) to the Munich air crash of 1958. Busby would then go on to rebuild the team and make them into a world force, one that still exists today. Here he is in long retirement exile, but still moulding young football minds. It's based on true events.
We have a heavy dose of sentimentality on offer here, not just with the flashbacks to the tragic loss of The Busby Babes, but also to the working class kids of terrace housed Manchester. Of single parents trying to make ends meet, of kids with absent fathers erring on the wrong side of the law, education a dangled carrot just out of reach.
However, the sentimentality is not cloying, it's well handled and performed, but the pic never gets to uplift status. It has some good laughs in the mix, usually when Toby Stephens' pompous school tutor is on screen, while the ultimate conclusion - even though it's what we expect - warms the cockles, but it never branches out to be more than just a family film for kiddies who like football, or for Manchester folk eager for anything involving Sir Matt Busby.
It makes for a decent "B" movie support to There's Only One Jimmy Grimble, though not nearly as good as that film. Cox, Stephens and the tender Busby Babes sequences (very Field of Dreams) make it worth a watch, but it should have been smarter and better. 6/10