Marcus Rashford: Feeding Britain's Children Doc Shows Humanity of English Football's Pride and Joy

"When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you."

That's a quote from Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War, as New York's working class hero comes to terms with his responsibilities as a young man with the means to implement change in his community. Having watched Marcus Rashford: Feeding Britain's Children on Monday evening, it's a quote that could easily have come from the mouth of the inspirational Manchester United star.

The BBC documentary gave viewers a potent insight into how Rashford, a 23-year-old multi-millionaire playing for one of the biggest clubs on the planet, became one of the most vocal champions for change in the face of an unprecedented food poverty crisis.

The film starts with Rashford giving us a tour of Wythenshawe in south Manchester, the area he grew up in. He points out a fast food restaurant that would give him free chips while his mum was at work, and it becomes apparent he still has deep roots at home.

His brother is his agent, his mum runs his fan club, and he's still on speaking terms with the head teacher at his old primary school, where he swings by to talk up the importance of breakfast club - especially while the Covid-19 pandemic piles more pressure than ever onto parents.

"I met some of my best friends at breakfast club at this school," he tells his doting audience. "It was an important part of my day and you should use it as much as you can." We soon get a glimpse at the bizarre duality of his life - moments later he's at a photo shoot modelling Calvin Klein underwear.

A common theme throughout is Rashford spending time with kids in the community. There is a genuinely warm, disbelieving smile on his face every time a youngster is star-struck by his presence - even if one young Liverpool fan refuses to look him in the eye. Partisanship never dies.

It becomes pretty obvious he still feels like a kid himself, yet his obvious maturity shines through. We see him and his agent taking representatives from various major supermarkets to task over Zoom, a meeting that convinces 12 organisations to commit to a food poverty strategy that is eventually put before the Prime Minister.

We hear from his mum, who regularly pulled double shifts and did cleaning at the weekends yet still struggled to feed Marcus and his two brothers. She's admirably open about what she went through and tells viewers how she used to water down porridge in order to make it last longer.

We're starting to see first-hand where his passion for the cause comes from - he almost feels guilty about his privileged position, motivating him to use his platform to enforce genuine change.

A bizarrely rushed segment towards the end shows a gutted Rashford after the government vote down his initiative to keep free school meals running over the summer while schools are closed. MPs comprehensively vote that down; yet within a week, Rashford has generated more than 1m votes on a petition to reverse that decision. A 20-second clip then shows Boris Johnson on the phone, eating humble pie and agreeing to meet his demands.

It's something Rashford has described as one of his most important victories, and it's a fitting end point for a film that does a good job of telling his story so far. Yet he's not getting ahead of himself - this is just one rung on a never-ending ladder.

"I'm happy for this moment but we're just looking ahead to what we can do next," he says, before giving his mum a hug.

Marcus Rashford: Feeding Britain's Children aired at 7pm on Monday 21 December. You can watch it back on BBC iPlayer here.