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Film Description
Shane Meadows follows up the explosive, Bafta award-winning This Is England '86 with a one-off, three hour special - This Is England '88, which acts as a bridge to a further series by pulling together the story threads from '86, and leaving the way clear for This Is England '90.
"This is England" -
Howard Schumann on 4th January 2012
Loosely based on Meadows teenage experiences, This is England dramatizes the unrest in Britain as a result of the Falklands War, a war that unleashed underlying feelin... more >
Loosely based on Meadows teenage experiences, This is England dramatizes the unrest in Britain as a result of the Falklands War, a war that 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.
The film, shown from the perspective of 12-year old Shaun (Thomas Turgoose), depicts Shauns decline from joyous camaraderie with new found friends to support of an intolerant and emotionally disturbed role model.
Friendless and bullied, Shaun seeks a sense of belonging and soon becomes part of a gang of mischief makers and lay-a-bouts 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.
Joining the neo-fascist National Front, Woodys friend 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.
Combos 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. 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.
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. 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 captures the mood of the 80s in the British Midlands with authenticity and has relevance for our present day.
