This Is England

[hatefuldisplay]

I watched this the other night. It's a film about a bullied lad joining the two-tone skinhead culture and eventually moving over to being a part of the National Front skinhead movement in the midst of struggling with his father's death in war. All in all, it was a good watch. Not too much action, but decent dialog and a pretty good plot. To me, it came off more as a film demonstrating the struggles of youth and dealing with family and friends more so than an actual skinhead film. In a way, I felt that the skinhead part was a secondary plot and could have been replaced with any type of negatively-viewed subculture.

Any one else have thoughts on this beast?

[jackskellington]

Haven't seen it, but would definitely be interested in watching it. I just got a surprise 3 month Netflix account for Christmas from one of my sisters, so I'll be adding this title to that tomorrow!

[Raimi Rules!]

Ive been meaning to watch this for quite a while now, am i right in thinking its a Shane Meadows (Dead Mans Shoes) film?

[hatefuldisplay]

Ive been meaning to watch this for quite a while now, am i right in thinking its a Shane Meadows (Dead Mans Shoes) film?Shane Meadows is the director, although I am not sure there is only one director by that name.

[Pain]

It is the same Shane Meadows that directed Dead Mans Shoes.

I bloody love this movie, I bought it a few weeks back and think it is a excellent flick.

Here's my review of it..

This Is England (2006)
IFC Films
R1 DVD

It's funny what you forget the older you get, whether we subconsciously push things from our minds or whether it is intentional I have no idea. The only reason I mention this is that right from the opening credits of This Is England a flood of memories came back to me; Thatcher (****ing milk snatcher), the Falklands War, Greenpeace protests, and from later in the movie, bloody Raleigh Grifters! In 1983, when the movie is set, I was ten years old and am glad I was that young, as looking back England was a bloody depressing place; ****ing Culture Club and Duran Duran? Please, just put me out of my damned misery.

Of course, there were positives, Tottenham were actually a vaguely decent football team, Botham was playing cricket for England and I didn't have a worry in the world.

This Is England though does really focus more on the more negative aspects, to a degree anyway. It's a film about friendship as well as loss, mindless violence, peer pressure and racism. At its heart though it is a simple story about a lonely 12 year old boy called Shaun.

At school Shaun is bullied because he made the mistake of wearing flared trousers (or pants) to school on a non-uniform day. He gets grief from the Asian shopkeeper who tells him that the store is not a library when he is reading through a comic. On top of that he gets in a fight with the bullies because they made comments about his deceased father. Life could be better for young Shaun, and lo and behold it does get a little better when he befriends Woody and his gang of Skinheads. They just want to have a good time, fun and games, they take Shaun in and make him feel a part of things, much to his mothers dismay when he comes home sporting a new haircut.

Events take on a more serious nature though when Woody's friend Combo is released from prison. He is a more violent character and soon manages to segregate the gang; he is of the belief that England should be for the English and anyone else should get the **** out.

Shaun is obviously torn between his friends, but ultimately he see's Combo as a father figure; he says the right things at the right time, basically playing with Shaun's emotions.

This was an enthralling movie, at times bleak yet ultimately very uplifting, which as an Englishman and a movie fan I thoroughly enjoyed. Hell, that's an understatement, I loved it. The attention to detail was incredible, the locations, the language, the fashions, everything, it really was like going back to the early 80's. Aside from that the script was superb, although some Americans might need subtitles and/or a translator as some of the slang and accents might be a little too much! This isn't the highly stylised world of Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, this is the world of Scum, The Firm or Made in Britain, with real characters and real situations.

At the core of This Is England there are two performances that really hold everything together, and they are Thomas Turgoose as Shaun, who gives a performance far beyond his young age; his delivery of his dialogue is priceless. The other actor here that shines is Stephen Graham, who you might recognize from Snatch, who plays the unhinged Combo. He is a violent, yet vulnerable character that Graham brings to life perfectly, definitely an underrated actor in my opinion. The rest of the cast are all excellent, but the two I singled out really were the stars of the show.

This is an excellent movie that manages to give a snapshot of a not so distant past, as well as just being a bloody entertaining movie. One that is full of rich characters who use some choice language at times. Although not violent for the most part there are a couple of occasions where it does explode onto the screen, for the most part the violence is just simmering below the surface, so when it does happen you really do notice it.

This Is England was a total joy to watch, and I recommend it to anyone that enjoys great storytelling. If you haven't seen any of director Shane Meadows other movies this is definitely a good place to start.

Rating 9/10

Review by Jude Felton

[hatefuldisplay]

Jude, take down your Culture Club fanclub poster if you're going to bash them on the forums like that. You show your favorite band great dishonor like that. :lol:

[Pain]

Haha, just wait til I break into Karma-karma-karma-chameleon!:lol:

[jackskellington]

Just streamed this one from Netflix. 6/10