This Is England

Too Timid To Make A Point, Too Scattered To Tell A Firm Story

This is England came to me highly recommended as a smart, insightful film that told a story of modern history that I agree is worth telling. The problem is, I am left clueless as to what this movie was about. It didn't quite work as political commentary, as history, as a coming of age tale, as a story of the aftermath of grieving and loss, or as a buddy film. Its gaping ramblings about skinhead culture, race relations and changing times during Thatcher's "reign" needed more focus and a better script. I think too much was ambitiously aimed at by the makers of This is England, and as a result, what could have been an entertaining tale with a sound message ended up being a scattered, drifting, inexplicably stuttering exercise in missed opportunity. What was worth sticking around for were the performances here by some talented actors, young Thomas Turgoose as the emotionally needy central character, and the charismatic Stephan Graham most of all. Graham's sympathetic lost soul skinhead character, Combo, was in equal parts endearing, repulsive, and fascinating, and if this movie had a saving grace it was to be found in him. Other characters were maddeningly underused, namely Joseph Gilgun's Woody, who seemed poised to be the film's protagonist, but vanished as the plot grew toward its mid-point. This is England is in part inspired by real people and events in its director, Shane Meadow's, life, and I'm sure had much personal meaning to him, but it was still a sadly empty motion picture that did not live up to its billing. December 24, 2008

Visually pleasing and well-acted but the story-line is shambolic.

Watch this for a visual treat as the people putting this film together did a brilliantly hollywood job of portraying early '80's pop-culture and skin head Britain.
The acting is really good too. The cads are excellent cads, the heroes good heroes, etc.
The biggest problem with the film, well problems, actually, are the shambolic story line and the rather muzzy political message.
The story itself is doubtless well-described in other reviews here, let me just comment that the story unfolds in much the same chaotic way that a teenager might write his autobiography. It is more a series of vignettes and set pieces acted out and strung together with the thinnest thread of narative connection between them.
The politics or the political message is a bit too hazy and diffuse for anyone to attach any meaning to it.
Still, this is visually pleasing and well-acted so if you fancy yourself a bit of a skinhead or an anglophile, get this and watch it because the dialogue is a treat and the visuals candy. December 15, 2008

Not England!

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RPUOC992QD327 This is England presents an emotional and irrational case that nationalism is somehow pathological. November 29, 2008

Loved the movie, hated the skipping.

The movie is wonderful, the director Shane Meadows is great. I wish I had been alerted to the scratches on the back of the disc, which lead to a lot of skipping throughout the movie. Overall, I was just satisfied. The seller should not have listened it as "like new," but that's what I get for ordered a used disc! October 26, 2008

A Descent Into Violence

A very earnest look at the skinhead culture of 1980's England, This is England is a well acted and for the most part well written film. A young boy living with his recently widowed Mom is befriended by a group of fairly benign older kids who are marginally into the skinhead scene. There is an actual warmth about the way they take the younger kid in and get him the clothes and the haircut that helps him fit in. They seem like a likable enough and relatively harmless bunch guilty of nothing more than some vandalism.
The film takes a decidedly ugly turn when a former neighborhood leader returns from prison and the group splits into 2. From that point on the inevitable descent from racist posturing to actual violence is quick and brutally depicted.
A very well done film on many levels and the actors, none of whom I had seen before , are uniformly believable and realistic. October 18, 2008

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