This Is England (2006)

Based on incidents from his own childhood, writer-director Shane Meadows's THIS IS ENGLAND is a stunning, brutal look at 1983 Britain, during the conservative Margaret Thatcher regime and the controversial Falklands War. Twelve-year-old Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) is a tough little kid who is street-smart beyond his years despite being short for his age. He falls in with a group of older boys, led by Woody (Joe Gilgun), who hang out at a local coffee shop, like to commit minor acts of anarchy, and adopt Shaun as one of their own--especially Smell (Rosamund Hanson), an overly made-up teenager who dresses like Boy Geor...
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ge and develops a cute romantic interest in the complicated boy. But when skinhead Combo (SNATCH's Stephen Graham) gets out of jail, he returns to the gang, eager to take over the reins and lead them on a nationalistic battle to get rid of the immigrants who are stealing their jobs and to defend England to the death. Shaun, whose father died in the Falklands, must choose between staying with Woody and his friends or joining Combo on his violent quest to protect the homeland. Turgoose, in his acting debut, is an absolute revelation in the extremely demanding, challenging role of Shaun. Graham is excellent as Combo, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats, never knowing what he is going to do next, waiting for him to simply explode. Meadows (TWENTYFOURSEVEN, DEAD MAN'S SHOES) paces the film brilliantly, and uses a terrific soundtrack that ranges from Percy Sledge and Toots & the Maytals to UK Subs and Culture Club, from Dexy's Midnight Runners and Soft Cell to the Smiths and the Specials, capturing the uneasy times in Thatcherite England. Don't miss the beginning, which features a thrilling montage that sets the mood perfectly.
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British filmmaker Shane Meadows looks back at his own youth in this semi-autobiographical comedy drama that examines skinhead culture in the U.K. It's the summer of 1983, and Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) is a 12-year-old boy edging into adolescence without a father, his dad having lost his life the year before in the Falkland Islands War. A gang of skinheads -- tough guys in their teens and early twenties who shave their heads, wear Ben Sherman polo shirts, and Dr. Martens boots, and listen to ska music -- walk the streets in Shaun's neighborhood, and one day they start picking on him. Shaun, however, shows he can giv...
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e as good as he gets, and gang leader Woody (Joe Gilgun) takes a liking to the boy. Woody takes Shaun under his wing, and he starts hanging out with the skins, getting advice on dressing right from Woody's girlfriend, Lol (Vicky McClure), and learning about Jamaican music from West Indian skinhead Milky (Andrew Shim). However, the gang begins to change when Combo (Stephen Graham) is released from prison and returns to the neighborhood; like many skinheads, Combo has been recruited by the National Front, an openly racist right-wing political party, and soon the gang begins to fracture, with Combo taking one faction toward violence and petty crime against blacks, Indians, and Pakistanis, while Woody and his friends follow a more benign path. This Is England received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival.
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Shaun is een 11-jarige jongen uit Noord-Engeland die opgroeit zonder vader. Tijdens de zomer van 1983 verandert er iets in de vaak zo trieste Shaun. Hij scheert zijn hoofd, zet zich tegen alles en iedereen af, en sluit zich aan bij een groep skinheads en later zelfs bij het National Front. Met alleen een labiele moeder die hem probeert op het rechte pad te houden, lijkt Shaun af te stevenen op de zekere ondergang.

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