Movie This Is England
Added 10/21/2009
Recently saw this movie through my netflix account, and my 19 year old fell in love with it! Very excited to be able to find it on Amazon for an amazing price for his birthday.
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Informative Where Other Skinhead Films Deviate
Added 9/14/2009
While well done and informative about England's 1980s skinhead recession era, the pace was fairly slow. Significant to note is the storyline sticks to the true non-racist basis of the skinheads for the most part, though when the original gang founder returns to reclaim his territory he brings a new more harm-filled credo. The development of his story clearly compromises that of others in the film, which weakens the overall plot. In the end the story demonstrates that at the heart of any extremist group is a mentally unstable leader.
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Take it as 'skinhead slice-of-life'
Added 9/3/2009
Firstly, how old does it make you feel when film-makers are making loving paeans to ye bygone era of... 1983? Anyhow, if you were part of the culture then, or an enthusiast after-the-fact then this film will charm you. And its depiction of the place and time are spot on: the music, the fashion, the hopelessness, the petty vandalism, the war-as-nationalistic-diversion of the Falklands, and the National Front. It's an 80's punk rock song all grandly recreated, lacking none of the grit of the era's subject matter. Sprinkle in the classic coming-of-age story with the evil-guy-outta-jail-comes-back theme and the film is absorbed so easily, save for the brutality of the story. Very watchable, highly entertaining, if possibly the slightest bit cliche (but if you aren't familiar with Toots & The Maytals or Fred Perry shirts then nix that comment.) It's funny to see Americans getting upset because they can't relate. This story, though thoroughly English (thus the title) really has enough universality to not let the "funny accents" be a stumbling block. Sit down, turn it on, and get spirited away to a time & place that happily hasn't fallen far from the minds of those that lived the "no future" and had to decide, each for themselves, how to press on.
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Breathe Taking
Added 7/21/2009
A must see movie. Hard to find in U.S. Best Buy does't even have the movie in its internet database. Thank you Amazon for having this great movie available. I ordered this movie, and it was at my front door in barely 24 hours! Amazing movie and amazing delivery speed!
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an unforgettable look at violent youth
Added 5/18/2009
Superbly written and directed by Shane Meadows, "This is England" provides us with an unflinchingly realistic and grimly depressing look at the skinhead subculture of early 1980's Britain.
Shaun is a twelve-year-old lad who has recently lost his father in the Falklands War. Even though Shaun has learned to give as good as he gets when the schoolyard and neighborhood bullies go to whaling on him (both verbally and physically), that still doesn't keep him from being ridiculed and harassed on an almost daily basis by kids who are bigger than he is - until, that is, he hooks up with a gang of social delinquents who take him under their wing, drastically altering his appearance and bringing him along on orgies of destruction as part of his initiation.
Although "This is England" is harrowing in what it says about a generation caught in an out-of-control spiral of purposelessness, rebelliousness and violence, there is a surprising amount of humor and tenderness in the film as well. Shaun may be mouthy and obnoxious a good part of the time, but he also possesses a whip-smart sense of humor, a strong instinct for self-preservation, and a wise-beyond-his-years perceptiveness about how life on the street actually works. In a similar way, even the punks who befriend and corrupt the boy are portrayed as complex, three-dimensional individuals, their occasional displays of charm and decency going a long way towards explaining just why it is that Shaun and even his own well-meaning mother are so easily taken in by them.
The real trouble begins when Combo, a neighborhood troublemaker and now radical "England for the English" nationalist, is released from prison and proceeds to infect the group with the idea of "taking back" the country from the hordes of dark-skinned "Pakis" who have increasingly made their home there. A gifted rabble rouser, Combo not only exploits working class dissatisfaction with the economy and the war, but appeals to out-and-out racism and xenophobia to win the men over to his side. This proves too much for a number of the gang's members - including Woody, the nominal leader - who quietly bow out of the scene, but Shaun, still feeling sorely the absense of his father, continues to find a home with the group.
The thing that is most striking about "This is England" is how remarkably fleshed-out and true-to-life the characters are, a result stemming as much from Meadows' thoughtful and intelligent screenplay as from the brilliant performances by Thomas Turgoose and Stephen Graham as Shaun and Combo, respectively. Turgoose has an astonishing ability to be both childlike and strangely adult at one and the same time, while Graham keeps us on edge throughout with his volatile combination of charm, charisma, love of violence and hair-triggered temper. And there are numerous other first-rate performances in the film as well.
Even though the story, in this case, is played out against the backdrop of bellicose speeches by Margaret Thatcher and file footage of the Falklands War, the themes the movie deals with - the irrational fear of "the other," the radicalization of disaffected youth, the seductive nature of the mob mentality - are sadly universal and relevant to all times and societies. It is an eye-opening, cautionary tale about where modern society may be heading if we don't learn to see beneath the superficial differences of skin and culture and find the common ground of humanity that unites us all. It's an old message but one that is delivered with unforgettable force in this film.
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