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THIS IS ENGLAND
Written & Directed by: Shane Meadows.
Produced by: Mark Herbert.
Director of Photography: Danny Cohen.
Music by: Ludovico Einaudi.
Edited by: Chris Wyatt.
Released by: IFC First Take.
Country of Origin: UK. 100 min. Not Rated.
With: Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham, Joe Gilgun, Vicky McClure, Andrew Shim & Jo Hartley.

Last year’s Dead Man’s Shoes, a semi-autobiographical film from director Shane Meadows, was little more than a reenacted parable from his childhood. Like most public service announcements, it could have been cut down to a single-sentence moral thesis (“Drugs are bad”). Thankfully, Meadows’ latest piece of semi-autobiographical therapy is a little more complicated and out of the ordinary than his last.

We first meet preteen Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) being ridiculed at school in the dispirited north of England. His father has died in the Falklands War a year earlier, and he now lives with his single mum. But when he meets an older group of skinheads, led by the empathetic and charismatic Woody (Joe Gilgun) and his girlfriend Lol (Vicky McClure), his self-esteem climbs. They give Shaun a buzz cut, introduce him to beer, buy his first Ben Sherman button-down, and plot his first sexual conquest. More importantly, they give him an identity. But fresh out of prison, Woody’s old friend, the much older and more dominating Combo (Stephen Graham), introduces the group to the racism and violence that would later come to be associated with skinheads. The gang splits into two factions, Shaun siding with father-figure Combo while Woody leads the other.

The performances are outstanding from a cast including both actors and non-professionals, like Turgoose. Combo, Woody, Lol, and Shaun are some of the most well-portrayed characters that Meadows has imagined yet. With a winning payoff, the script was created over a long period of workshops with the cast and crew. It’s also worth noting that this aspect of British ‘80s youth is not often covered so candidly. The long and many shots of Woody’s laidback crew of hip outcasts walking down the street in slow motion, like a punk parade, embody Britain’s proto-skinhead culture in a new twist – a historical one. Zachary Jones
July 25, 2007