With an impressive list of films already to his name, English writer director Shane Meadows has put in another solid effort with ‘This is England’.  

Set in a coastal town in the north of England in 1983. The story is about 12 year old Sean, whose father was recently killed in the Falklands war. After being picked on all day at school Sean runs into a bunch of local skinheads who turn out to be quite friendly and take Sean under their wing.

For awhile it's all fun and games as Sean becomes initiated into the music and the fashion of the skinhead scene. In fact there are no references to racism among the group and there's even a black skinhead in the fold. However, the dynamics change when Combo, a racist skinhead, is released from prison after three years and begins preaching to the group about nationalism, which is really just his veiled attempt to justify racism.

This causes an immediate fracturing of the group with half choosing to distance them selves from Combo and the other half deciding to follow him. Sean decides to stay in Combo's group, after Combo manipulates his feelings about his father's death to get him on side. From this point Combo’s true motives are revealed and Sean finds himself in an environment of escalating violence. On the surface this film may appear to be revisiting the same tired old themes about the futility of racism, but the way in which Combo is depicted, firstly, as a despicable racist but ultimately as a pathetic figure frustrated by his impotency, is very convincing.

‘This is England’ sits comfortably along side the great the kitchen sink dramas the Brits do so well and is definitely worth a rent.    

It's a while since I watched this film but it's such a well written and directed film it stays in the memory.
I've always been a fan of Meadows since watching 'A Room for Romeo Brass'.
This is such a well told story and the fact that it's semi-autobiographical shows. The skinhead movement in England was about the music and the whole feel-good vibe until the Falklands and Maggie Thatcher. All a bit before my time but this film shows how racism can be hidden under the guise of patriotism and how easily young minds can be turned.
Great performances by all especially Thomas Turgoose who plays Shaun and an excellent soundtrack to boot.
Anyone who hasn't seen this yet should check it out along with 'Romeo Brass' and 'Dead Man's Shoes'.

Quoted from stebrown Anyone who hasn't seen this yet should check it out along with 'Romeo Brass' and 'Dead Man's Shoes'.

Yeah. I can vouch for those two. Dead Man's Shoes' is a revenge flick about  a soldier who goes back to his old home town and extracts revenge on the local yokels who abused his retarded brother. The cinematography gave it an old school horror look that reminded me of I Spit on Your Grave and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  

I liked this movie, My missus adored the young actor playing the lead. But I was not totally convinced by the story. The ending seemed to wimp out a bit and I was left a bit unsure what Shane Meadows was trying to say here. I am not sure he knew what his message was himself and tried to cover all his bases in the end.  But it was enjoyable and had some great moments, especially for someone who like me at the time this movie was set was exactly the same age as the young kid in the lead and living in the north of England too. Brought back memories (though I was not a skinhead!).

But my main reason for posting was to share a really interesting fact I read about this movie that I had never heard of happening before. It was released as an 18 rating in the UK (meaning nobody under the age of 18 can go see it) but several local councils overruled the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) and changed it to a 15 as they felt the subject matter was important enough that teenagers should be encouraged to watch it.

I was really impressed with the attitude displayed here by these councils and it is a shame that more never followed suite.