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This Is England
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MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham, Jo Hartley, Andrew Shim, Vicky McClure, Joseph Gilgun, Perry Benson, and George Newton
It's 1983, 12-year-old Shaun is an isolated lad growing up in a grim coastal town, whose father has died fighting in the Falklands war. He finds fresh males role models when those in the local skinhead scene take him in. Here he meets Combo, an older, racist skinhead who has recently got out of prison. As Combo's gang harass the local ethnic minorities, the course is set for a rite of passage that will hurl Shaun from innocence to experience. (IFC Films)
| GENRE(S): | Drama |
| WRITTEN BY: | Shane Meadows |
| DIRECTED BY: | Shane Meadows |
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: November 13, 2007 Theatrical: July 27, 2007 |
| RUNNING TIME: | 100 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: | UK |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The average user rating for this movie is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 41 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Pedro P. gave it a6:
A movie with a very thin history and horribly quick and superficial ending, still better that hollowood ones but disapointing given the high score that it has here in metacritic.
bovva boy gave it an8:
Tupac S..It doesnt make sense to you because you dont know what real skinheads are.You only know the so called modern day skins.In the uk skins derived from the mods and the rude boys (jamaican blacks) and were NOT against blacks.The confusion probably comes from the so called paki (pakistani) bashing which both the blacks and skins both did. Quote..."These kids were the first skinheads. With shorter cropped hair than the mods(for convenience in street fights) and passions that included football, reggae, and working class values, skinheads were the perfect hybrid of the two groups. A skinhead did not take shit from anyone, they stood firm on their stance on racial unity and working class pride."You live and learn eh?
Josh gave it a10:
Great Movie. Probably one of my most favorite movies and I watch a lot of movies. The script is well-written, the acting, especially that of thomas turgoose, is phenomenal. The film is directed beautifully portraying remarkable poignancy and a great story.
Jim T. gave it a9:
Great film. A stylish piece of pop culture, political commentary and coming of age calling-to-account. It felt like a very personal rendition of events and for those who didn't / haven't lived through 15% unemployment I can see how it doesnt travel particularly well. A solid 9.
Rich R. gave it a9:
I love this director. For me the best scenes are when they are cutting his hair off (this gang may act tough, but they're all really sweet) and the speech by the creepy National Front guy. Only problem with this movie for me is that Paddy Considine, by far England's best young actor, isn't in it, but then, what role would he have taken? If you liked this, you'll love Dead Man's Shoes, starring Paddy.
sterckx gave it a10:
A great movie that tells a real story about skinhead subculture an the emotional enviremant the culture struggled with during that decenium great acting and nice girls.
Chad S. gave it a10:
"This is England" is the best period-piece film about the relatively recent past since Richard Linklater's "Dazed and Confused". From the actors with speaking parts, down to the extras that fill out the screen, in unison, capture the milieu of a small population locked together by a generational happenstance. The boys and girls don't look like fashion victims. They look like the young people you see in documentary films about the post-punk era. You instantly know what band or solo artist each girl or boy are into. Shot like a docu-drama, "This is England" also tells a story that's as no-nonsense as its visual style; a story well-told about how an indoctrination begets the racist lifestyle a person undertakes, because we're all born innocent, blank slates susceptible to rhetoric, both, the good and bad sort. Shaun(Thomas Turgoose) is a lonely kid. Combo(Stephen Graham), too, we realize, in spite of his advanced age. Shaun's mentor is still very impressionable, just like anybody who feels marginalized. He's a walking and talking contradiction. Graham makes Combo a fascinating character study because he's not completely irredeemable. There's a vestige of that lonely kid somewhere beneath the faux-confident exterior that hatred instilled him with. "This is England" steers clear away from the wrongheaded notion that racial violence is mindless. There's always some deep-rooted psychological factor behind every hate crime. Combo got to Shaun. And somebody got to Combo. "This is England" is the best British film I've seen of recent vintage that wasn't directed by Mike Leigh(you know who he is), or Lynne Ramsay("Ratcatcher", "Morvern Callar").

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