This Is England

I'd heard a lot of good things about This Is England, Shane Meadows 2006 film, and I was glad to find out it lived up to expectations. Ostensibly about the evolution of the skinhead movement in England during the early '80s, at its emotional core the film is about a boy's efforts to fit into a society that won't have him.

Thomas Turgoose, in an indelible performance, stars as Shaun Fields (gee, you think it could be autobiographical, given the writer and director's name is Shane Meadows?), a frequently bullied twelve-year old. At his school, they take fashion seriously, and some kid dressed up like one of the Pet Shop Boys teases him about his bell-bottoms. Back home, his mother doesn't seem to understand. His father was killed in the Falklands War, and he misses him terribly.

Shaun strikes up a friendship with a group of skinheads, whose leader is Woody (Joe Gilgun), who proves to be something of a mentor. They clue him into the right kind of clothes (they must be Doc Martens) and Lol, Woody's girlfriend (Vicky McClure) gives him a buzz cut.

All is well until Woody's old mate, Combo (Stephen Graham) is released from prison. He was the leader of the gang, now 32. While the skinhead movement started in the 1960s as a cultural movement, stemming mostly from love of reggae and ska music, Graham is now taking it in a different direction--combining forces with the anti-immigrant National Front, which is all about English identity. This creates friction, especially since one of the group, Milky, is black (Andrew Shim). The group splinters, with Woody and Milky going their own way, but Shaun remains with Combo, buying into his world view. Combo sees himself in the lad, and the two form a bond.

This film is frequently heartbreaking, as Shaun tries to get along with kids (and adults) much too old for him. He strikes up a romance with an older girl who looks like Boy George, and they make out, in a disquieting scene. Shaun's mother, despite not liking his haircut, goes along with his new friends, and he seems happy, until the anger inside Combo builds to an eruption.

This Is England works on several levels. At one level, it's a wonderful tale of a boy's battle against loneliness and fitting in, and older kids extending a hand of friendship. On another, it shows how insidious racists are. A scene in which the nationalist skinheads terrorize Pakistani children playing soccer, and then a merchant, are cold-blooded and frightening. Unfortunately, this attitude still exists, not only in England, but all over the globe.

Meadows has revisited the characters in television specials every two years, which I should try to track down. This Is England is an excellent work of art.