Back home

Believe

38 votes

Producing House

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.

movie

Status: Released

Released Date: 2013-10-04

Runtime: 94 mins

Director: David Scheinmann

Writer: Carmelo Pennisi, Massimiliano Durante, David Scheinmann

Spoken language: English

Genres: Drama

Original title: Believe

Production Companies: Wachafilm, Bill and Ben Productions

Production Countries: United Kingdom

Reviews

J

John Chard
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
2015-05-15

Recommendations

Last Feelings
3.1

Last Feelings

1978-02-24

Diego is a troubled runaway who tries to make something out of himself by joining a swimming team an

Third Time
2.1

Third Time

1963-04-11

The film is based on the real fact — football «The Death Match» between the German team and a team o

95
2.3

95

2017-12-25

Set in the final weekend of the year 1995 Ice Hockey World Championships, 95 tells through overlappi

Annie Hall
3.9

Annie Hall

1977-04-19

New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.

Mean Machine
3.1

Mean Machine

2001-12-26

Disgraced ex-England football captain, Danny 'Mean Machine' Meehan, is thrown in jail for assaulting

Two for the Money
3

Two for the Money

2005-10-07

A former college athlete joins forces with a sports consultant to handicap football games for high-r

Cinderella Man
3.8

Cinderella Man

2005-06-02

The true story of boxer Jim Braddock who, following his retirement in the 1930s, makes a surprise co

Bend It Like Beckham
3.2

Bend It Like Beckham

2002-04-11

Jess Bhamra, the daughter of a strict Indian couple in London, is not permitted to play organized so

Summer Storm
3.4

Summer Storm

2004-09-02

Tobi and Achim, the pride of the local crew club, have been the best of friends for years and are co

The Golden Vision
2.5

The Golden Vision

1968-04-17

The obsessive supporters of Everton FC forsake wives, families and God to follow their beloved team.

Over the Top
3.2

Over the Top

1987-02-13

Lincoln Hawk a hard-luck big-rig trucker takes us under the glaring Las Vegas lights for all the boi

The Legend of Bagger Vance
3.3

The Legend of Bagger Vance

2000-11-02

World War I has left golfer Rannulph Junuh a poker-playing alcoholic, his perfect swing gone. Now, h

The Longest Yard
3.4

The Longest Yard

1974-08-21

A football player-turned-convict organizes a team of inmates to play against a team of prison guards

Semi-Tough
2.8

Semi-Tough

1977-11-18

A three-way friendship between two free-spirited professional football players and the owner's daugh

Stay Hungry
2.8

Stay Hungry

1976-04-23

A dishonest businessman asks rich layabout Craig Blake to help him buy a gym, which will be demolish

Eleven Men Out
2.6

Eleven Men Out

2005-09-02

The star player of Icelands top football team causes a stir when he admits to being gay to his team

Rudo & Cursi
3.5

Rudo & Cursi

2008-12-19

Two brothers living a hard life of manual labor in rural Mexico have a simple dream: saving enough m

Treadmill
0

Treadmill

'Treadmill' is a short film drama set in a busy sportswear store in central London. Atlas, is a 30 y

The Penalty King
2.5

The Penalty King

2006-11-07

Lee, a soccer player who descends into depression when he goes blind, is encouraged to take up the g

Streets of Rio
2.1

Streets of Rio

2008-01-30

Rio de Janeiro. Confronted with the violence that exists in the favela where he lives, Tiago sees th