Evies Blog

This epic, both lovely and disturbing in it’s messages and imagery, is about many different themes, all brilliantly woven together by British director, Shane Meadows.

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The themes mask Thatcherite England in the 80’s, Skinheads (ample and poor), racism, bullyism, and the loss of childhood innocence. The film is strongly influenced by Director Shane Meadows childhood experiences as a skinhead, both sterling and awful.

The outline of the account is that a young “Shaun Fields”(played amazingly by newcomer Tomo Turgoose) lives in a dinky un-named Northern English town in 1983. “Shaun” has recently lost his father in the early stages of the Falklands War. On the last day of the school term before summer smash “Shaun” is harassed over his choice of hippy-like clothing by several cooler kids.

Buy,Download, Or Stream This is England! Click Here

On his plot home from school, Shaun chances upon a non-racist skinhead gang (which includes two Jamaican members), led by the charming and lanky “Woody” (played by the affable Joe Gilgun) . “Shaun” immediately takes to “Woody” as a surrogate father figure and is soon admitted in to the gang. Admission means parties, a recent girlfriend (Rosamund Hanson) a original haircut, a modern Ben Sherman shirt, and a recent pair of boots (purchased by his mother (Jo Hartley) in an extremely amusing scene) as well as a whole fresh group of friends who treat Shaun as an equal.

All seems well in this mild English town until one incident changes all of their lives about midway through the film. This is the return of “Combo” (the electrifying Stephen Graham in his first major leading role) from 3 years in prison. “Combo” is the venerable leader of this gang and wastes no time trying to re-establish his dominance in a say confrontation with “Woody”. “Combo” has become a racist during his 3+ years in prison and views skinheads as the prefect front line soldiers in the National Front’s (an extremely conservative political party) war to preserve England for “Englishmen.”

This confrontation with “Woody” soon splits the gang, some siding with “Combo”, others with “Woody”. “Shaun” is now forced to resolve among father figures and the movie takes a decidedly chillier tone from it’s lighthearted first half.

The film is sparkling because all of Meadows characters are complicated and feel like right human beings. “Combo” even offers “Milky” (Andrew Shim), a dismal skinhead, the chance to join his gang because “Combo” views the immediate spot as the “Paki” (Pakistani) workers who have flooded his town in current years, taking jobs and houses from Englishmen.

It’s the complexities such as this that manufacture the characters (such as the Swastika tattooed Combo) so approachable and compelling to ogle.

Even Shaun collected appears like an adorable shrimp child as he dresses in an English Cromby coat to go “Paki Bashing” at the local store.

The movie comes to what seems like an almost inevitable violent clash between two of the main characters that, despite its predictability, collected jars the viewer, hopefully leaving you sickened. Shaun is then left to choose where his future lies.

The movies tale is spot against the backdrop of the Falklands War, whose brutal images Meadows deftly juxtaposes against the original violent and desolate climate of 80’s England. Meadows was, interestingly, granted corpulent access to many war footage images that had never been released to the public previously.

The film contains a astonishing soundtrack of early “skinhead reggae” tunes, including several songs by Toots and the Maytalls, including “54-46″ which is played over a collage of media clips from 80’s Britain and the Falklands War. It’s a terrific mood setter for the rest of the film.

Meadows shines so brightly (as does his cast) because he intimately knows this material and these characters, many of whom are based on or even named after childhood friends of his.

Some American viewers may initially be off-put by the view of any “Skinhead” related movie if all they know of skinheads is what they have seen in the American press in the last 20+ years. It may surprise many viewers not familiar with the unique skinhead scene (circa 1966-72) in Britain to learn the the new skins (now often called Frail Skins, Trojan Skins, or ‘69 skins) were a multi-racial bunch who were an off-shoot from the Mods. They were known, like the Mods, for being spirited dressers and they chose as their music Jamaican Rocksteady, Reggae, and American Soul. The skinhead movement in England largely died out in 1972 and then saw a revival in the unhurried seventies. It’s this revival group that was penetrated by the likes of the National Front that Meadows covers here. If you resolve to not see this film based on it’s subject matter, you are missing not only one of the best acting performances by a new-comer(Turgoose) in unusual history, but you are also missing what will no doubt become considered landmark moment in British film history.

First of all, I have to say that I enjoyed this film more than any original film I`ve seen in the past 2 years. Some may say that coming of age is a gentre that`s been done, but This Is England gives it fresh life. How can you not root for confused pre-teen Shaun? He`s an average kid in 1983 Britain who is befriended by a group of older teens who dress in punk fashions and like reggae music. The early scenes of Shaun and his modern friends really enlighten the jubilation you feel when you`re young and hanging out with peers, however clueless you may be at the time. All is well until the appearance of ex-con Combo, an older guy who hangs with the neighborhood youth in order to recruit them to racist thinking and the National Front group. Shaun appears to buy to his agenda at first, but then the residence goes down another path and there is a more certain ending than one would assume.

The film does`nt sugarcoat adolescent behavior-Shaun and cohorts smoke pot and rob in petty vandalism- but neither does it aim for shock value. Every character is impartial amazingly valid, an archetype of people we`ve all grown up with, no matter where you live or what kind of music you like. Extra points for the soundtrack- lots of Toots & the Maytals. And yes, we learn a bit about the politics of 80`s England, which is curious since you don`t always hear about fresh history in Europe or America. An underrated gem I know I`ll gaze many times.
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