This Is England [Blu-ray]

This is not only a very good film, it is also a very courageous one, that attempts to go into the shades of grey of a very black and white world.

12 year old Shaun (played by the amazingly talented Thomas Turgoose) has lost a father in the Falklands, lives alone with his mother, and is a helpless victim of bullying inside and outside school. He lives in a world that is even bleaker than the surrounding environment, and it is not altogether surprising that he ends up making friends with an older group who spend their time hanging around in an underpass. This is where we see real warmth, humour and charisma, and the England where a cup of tea could solve most problems.

Where the film really takes off, however, is with the apperarance of Combo, a Scouser just out of prison, superbly played by Stephen Graham. Combo seems like a good guy at first, until he starts dragging Shaun into the world of racism and the National Front. The meeting of these two and their respective extreme emotional fragility is explored with delicacy and courage by Meadows. Meadows shows that even "good" people end up doing very bad things with tetrrible consequences.

This Is England manages to be moral without being moralistic - a major achievement, and one of the best movies of 2007.

Another excellent film from Shane Meadows. I was 15 in 1983, and although I was never a Skinhead (I started off into metal, flirted with punk, dallied with electro before returning to metal and generally sticking with it) I've vivid memories of this era & this film is SO evocative, the clothes, the cars, even the shop fittings! Seriously, the production design is outstanding. This looks every bit as authentic as 1982's Made In Britain, ITV's well known Skinhead drama starring Tim Roth.
It's a strong film, very uncomfortable at times and many of the social issues addressed in the film are still relevant today, maybe even more so!
The acting is very intense & yet very, very natural as in Meadows previous movie, Dead Man's Shoes.
Don't expect the hardcore violence of Romper Stomper or the likes of Rise Of The Foot Soldier or Green Street - This is nothing like them - There is only one scene of explicit violence (although the build up to this is very disturbing) and viewers should not expect any scenes at all of rival gang wars with baseball bats & bike chains etc! It's very much grounded in reality, where even it's principal Skinhead 'villain', the fanatical Combo is shown to have flaws and weaknesses often missing from similiarly brutal characters.
Actually, the film depicts the Skins culture in a mostly positive fashion, where violence & intimidation was not the norm for many!
The language is VERY strong as you would expect and it shocks to hear a 12 year old boy using the F word liberally on film! Having said that, a walk around any high street today will soon erase that feeling!
Not giving anything away, but the ending is a little ambiguous; however 25 years on from 1983, many of This Is England's social problems are equally unresolved.
The score is very good, there's quite a bit of Ska & some Oi as the tone of the story darkens but also some excellent acoustic/orchestral pieces that really add feeling to the dramatics on screen - in much the same fashion as Shane Meadows previous work.
For anyone that liked: Made In Britain, American History X (nowhere near as violent as X) and the acting/direction of Dead Man's Shoes.

If you're just looking for punch ups, then this intelligent & provocative drama may dissapoint.

I was a skinhead during this period and the film captures the spirit of the movement.
Real skinheads were NOT into politics - real SKINS were into the music of Madness and our `bible` was The Story Of Oi ( A skinhead history ) by Garry Johnson.
Every actor in this film is 100% believable.
A classic masterpiece about a youth cult.