Finding Jack Charlton: How poignant documentary celebrates his glory and confronts dementia

Dementia is a bastard of a disease. It robs people of the memories of their achievements, of those they have loved and the places they have been. Mugging them of the fundamentals of what it is to live a life before taking that as well.

The crime of it does not stop there. It makes you watch: forcing you to see someone dear stripped gradually and painfully of themselves. Worst of all, it can skew your perception of that person, which is why doctors and counsellors place an extra onus on the memories of friends and families. The one to remember is that one of the past, not who they see in these final moments.

This was the challenge underpinning the work of directors Gabriel Clarke and Pete Thomas of Noah Media Group as they embarked on the challenge of purveying the glory of Jack Charlton's life. Of "10 lives in one" as his son John puts it, and the sadness that was its end. Somehow, across just 90 minutes, they were able to do the former by leveraging off the latter, making Finding Jack Charlton all the more poignant.

"His illness was never going to define the film," Thomas tells The Independent. Work began two years ago when he and Clarke met the Charlton family to discuss the project. It was at this meeting they realised interviewing Jack regularly and thoroughly would not be possible.

But thanks to the family's openness, in constant dialogue with the filmmakers through the process, even assisting with loose ends as the final edits were being made a week or so before Jack's passing on 10 July, his soul remains rich throughout.

"What we wanted to do was shape a film in which Jack was always alive in the film," says Thomas. "That his passing, which was going to happen, was not going to be that significant. We wanted to do certain scenes which captured him in his essence. Because of the way we were able to film with Jack over the last two years, it was very much showing Jack alive and focussing his life which allowed it not to be defined by last moments."

Clarke adds: "The family didn't want pity. They wanted Jack to be seen as living his life as he wanted to."

Jack's death, coming at the age of 85 having been diagnosed with lymphoma last year, was something hanging over the latter stages of production. But a choice was made not to underplay Jack as an inspirational figure or overstep on a family's grief. Despite being encouraged to film at the funeral, they decided against using any of the footage.

Perhaps the best reviews of the finished product, which was originally due for release in the summer to align with Euro 2020, are from those who saw the good times and some of the bad.

"They captured his personality perfectly," says Andy Townsend, who played and captained the Republic of Ireland during Jack Charlton decade as manager and is an executive producer on the film. "He was a great relater of people. He could make you laugh, be very warm and very open. And within half-an-hour, he could be stubborn, bloody-minded and opinionated. You could have a whole different bunch of opinions about Jack in one day."

It was four years ago, during a reunion of Republic of Ireland players and staff at the K Club in County Kildare, just outside of Dublin, that Townsend first saw how Jack's health was deteriorating. The room was full of those who had played during the successful campaigns to the European Championships in 1988 and the World Cups of 1990 and 1994. Jack, flanked by his wife Pat, was clearly struggling.

It was a struggle Townsend recognised; one he had seen first-hand. "I had been going through that with my own dad. I lost my dad a couple of months ago. He had dementia for five or six years where he was in a home with it quite severely. So, I kind of knew what happened when I saw Jack. It’s always a bit sad that you finally realise that great booming personality and that unique individual we all knew was starting to suffer a wee bit."

But the light that counters the darkness is not only plentiful but provided exclusively from Jack. Not just the bombastic career, first as a player starting every game of the 1966 World Cup triumph and winning various honours with Leeds United, then a manager working marvels with Ireland.

It is also in the way he stood up for what he felt was right, as he did during the miner's strike in the 80s. His 10 years in Ireland had profound effects off the field, playing a key part in strengthening relations between the two nations. He arrived during the height of the Troubles, with plenty of backlash to his appointment, and left an Irish citizen and an honorary Irishman for life.

He also influenced the film's structure in a more direct sense. His handwritten notes and amateur video footage give it a more personal touch. We are privy to his thoughts in moments when no one was around. Candid reflections on tactics and life, football and people, and how they were always intertwined to him.

"A lot of these apocryphal tales you might have heard, almost cliches," says Clarke, "are actually confirmed as something much more than that. These notes, along with the videos where he's telling gags and coming alive on the microphone. Finding things like that were key to us in getting across the amazing skills Jack had and how he could grab a room."

Unquestionably, the moments to really savour are the flashes of the Jack of old when they were able to film with him. Confirmations that he never went away but was simply hanging back, waiting for an opportunity to come to the fore.

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"One thing that really helped with the process was that Jack loved the camera," really Thomas. "Every time we filmed with Jack he came alive and really warmed to it. You see it in the film, the way he looks at the camera, smiles at the camera, talks to the camera. He really connected with it. You see the glint in his eye."

That glint is present when Jack watches scenes of his times with Ireland, which the film is built around, and when he hears old ballads and dressing room chants which have clearly maintained their familiarity. He smiles throughout, ensuring Clarke and Thomas were able to stay true to their promise.

"Although he suffered as time went on, he had great joy spending time with the kids and grandkids. He still recognised players and, as you see in the film, some of the old songs. That was one thing we wanted to get across: positivity and focusing on what he can still do."

The responsibility to not sugar-coat dementia is taken on. Alzheimer's Society and the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland are the film's official charity partners, and the hope is this will give their work greater traction among a wider audience. It is a topic even more prescient now as football looks at why its former players are disproportionately affected by the disease following the passing of World Cup-winning teammates Nobby Stiles, who battled with dementia, and the diagnosis of Jack's brother, Bobby.  

By staying true to a man like no other, Finding Jack Charlton does justice to a legacy while highlighting battles many more will identify with. All while spreading the life of Jack Charlton far and wide to ensure his memory can live on forever. 

Finding Jack Charlton is available on DVD & Digital Download from 23rd November.