The
successful conclusion of the Falklands War in 1983 gave
a boost to British patriotic feeling and helped re-elect
the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It was,
however, in the words of British director Shane Meadows
“an incredibly suspicious war, in the same way America
and the UK got involved in Iraq.” During a time when
3.5 million were unemployed, Meadows bemoans the fact that
British paratroopers were involved in killing 16-year old
Argentine boys, fighting for a useless piece of land. Though
the British were victorious, the war in the Falklands unleashed
underlying feelings of alienation and racism among some
elements of British working class youth and gave rise to
the Skinheads, a group that ultimately became involved in
the public mind with the neo-Nazis.
Loosely
based on Meadows’ teenage experiences, This
is England dramatizes the unrest in Britain
from the perspective of 12-year old Shaun (Thomas Turgoose),
a diminutive working class youngster who lives with his
mum after his father was killed in the war. Following a
montage of news and cultural events from the early 1980s,
the film depicts Shaun’s decline from joyous camaraderie
with newfound friends to support of an intolerant and emotionally
disturbed role model. As the film opens, Shaun is a schoolboy
with a cherubic look that conveys a sweet innocence. Just
under the surface, however, there is a feistiness and volatility
that provides pointers to where he is headed.
Friendless and bullied, Shaun seeks a sense of belonging
and soon becomes part of a gang of mischief makers and layabouts
who give him the respect and dignity he is looking for.
Led by Woody (Joseph Gilgun) and Milky (Andrew Shim), the
group is proud of their working class status and dress accordingly
with work-boots, jeans, and white shirts. Shaun allows one
of the girls Lol (Vicky McClure) to shave his head and experiences
his first kiss with Smell (Rosamund Hanson). Though his
mother (Jo Hartley) is horrified when she sees how he looks,
she is content to leave the boy in the care of his new friends.
The most virulent racism in the film comes from Woody’s
friend Combo (Stephen Graham) who has just been released
from prison and who splits the group into political and
non-political factions. Joining the neo-fascist National
Front, Combo and those that go with him unleash rhetoric
of ferocious nationalism and set out on a campaign to intimidate
immigrants and people of color. Meadows brilliantly shows
how damaged lives and mutual needs can bring people together
to take out their frustrations against those below them
on the socio-economic scale.
Torn
between his friendship for Woody and his desire to redeem
his father’s memory, Shaun decides to join Combo’s
group, seemingly unaware that he is a powder keg ready to
explode. Soon Shaun is spouting the racist clichés
of his mentor as well as joining with him in assaults against
Pakistani youngsters and local shopkeepers. Triggered by
a discussion with Milky, a Jamaican, about his own past,
Combo’s confrontation with the gentle black man is
the dramatic high point of the film and the most difficult
to watch. For Shaun it is a moment of realization and despair
that signals the end of his childhood. For the viewer, it
is a moment of searing pain and unbearable emotion.
Winner of the award for Best Independent British film,
This is England follows the tradition of directors
Ken Loach and Mike Leigh by combining gritty realism with
humor, punctuated by tension and outbursts of brutal violence.
The performances are outstanding, especially those of Turgoose
and Graham, who create fully three-dimensional characters
that come alive as people we can identify with and relate
to, while still deploring their actions. Using a soundtrack
of ska (Caribbean rhythm and blues) melodies and the songs
of Toots and the Maytals, This is England is a
timely film that not only captures the mood of the 80s in
the British Midlands with authenticity and rare honesty
but has important parallels to events of the present day.
The
successful conclusion of the Falklands War in 1983 gave
a boost to British patriotic feeling and helped re-elect
the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It was,
however, in the words of British director Shane Meadows
“an incredibly suspicious war, in the same way America
and the UK got involved in Iraq.” During a time when
3.5 million were unemployed, Meadows bemoans the fact that
British paratroopers were involved in killing 16-year old
Argentine boys, fighting for a useless piece of land. Though
the British were victorious, the war in the Falklands unleashed
underlying feelings of alienation and racism among some
elements of British working class youth and gave rise to
the Skinheads, a group that ultimately became involved in
the public mind with the neo-Nazis.
Loosely
based on Meadows’ teenage experiences, This
is England dramatizes the unrest in Britain
from the perspective of 12-year old Shaun (Thomas Turgoose),
a diminutive working class youngster who lives with his
mum after his father was killed in the war. Following a
montage of news and cultural events from the early 1980s,
the film depicts Shaun’s decline from joyous camaraderie
with newfound friends to support of an intolerant and emotionally
disturbed role model. As the film opens, Shaun is a schoolboy
with a cherubic look that conveys a sweet innocence. Just
under the surface, however, there is a feistiness and volatility
that provides pointers to where he is headed. 
The most virulent racism in the film comes from Woody’s
friend Combo (Stephen Graham) who has just been released
from prison and who splits the group into political and
non-political factions. Joining the neo-fascist National
Front, Combo and those that go with him unleash rhetoric
of ferocious nationalism and set out on a campaign to intimidate
immigrants and people of color. Meadows brilliantly shows
how damaged lives and mutual needs can bring people together
to take out their frustrations against those below them
on the socio-economic scale. 
Torn
between his friendship for Woody and his desire to redeem
his father’s memory, Shaun decides to join Combo’s
group, seemingly unaware that he is a powder keg ready to
explode. Soon Shaun is spouting the racist clichés
of his mentor as well as joining with him in assaults against
Pakistani youngsters and local shopkeepers. Triggered by
a discussion with Milky, a Jamaican, about his own past,
Combo’s confrontation with the gentle black man is
the dramatic high point of the film and the most difficult
to watch. For Shaun it is a moment of realization and despair
that signals the end of his childhood. For the viewer, it
is a moment of searing pain and unbearable emotion. 