This Is England

Name: This Is England
Director: Shane Meadows
Genre: Crime/detective, Drama
Released: 2006
Duration: 1 h 37 min
Cast: Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham, Jo Hartley, Andrew Shim, Vicky McClure

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Crime/detective
Drama

2006
Shane Meadows
97 mins
18

Summary

Drama set during the early 1980s, starring Thomas Turgoose and Stephen Graham. After losing his father in the Falklands War and being bullied at school, young Shaun Fields finds friendship with Woody and his gang of skinheads. But when an old friend of Woody's appears on the scene, the group's loyalties become divided.

IMDB

Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Jamie Russell

The sixth feature from British film-maker Shane Meadows (Dead Man's Shoes, TwentyFourSeven) offers a semi-autobiographical portrait of skinheads in the 1980s. Set in a bleak (and unnamed) northern town just after the Falklands War, the film follows 12-year-old Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) as he's befriended by a group of kindly, multiracial skinheads. A touchingly funny first half gives way to something more disturbing as Shaun is drawn to a breakaway group of National Front supporters led by Combo (Stephen Graham), a terrifying racist. Like much of Meadows's work, This Is England pivots on a relationship between a child and a disturbed father figure; this time, though, the dynamic writer/director has produced what could well be his masterpiece. Coaxing a superb performance from his young lead and brilliantly evoking the working-class despair of the Thatcher era, Meadows has created a film to be reckoned with.

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7.7/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameShaun FieldsThomas TurgooseComboStephen GrahamCynthJo HartleyMilkyAndrew ShimLolVicky McClureWoodyJoe GilgunSmellRosamund HansonGadgetAndrew EllisMeggyPerry BensonBanjoGeorge NewtonLennyFrank HarperPukey NichollsJack O'Connell (2)