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There's a lot going on in This Is England, much of it very intense. The film is a semi-autobiographical film from Shane Meadows about a turning point in his own life; the filmmaker was on a very different and potentially violent path in life until the events of a summer helped him change course.
This Is England is set in the early '80s. Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) is a boy of about 13 with nothing to do all summer long. His dad has died fighting in the Falklands, and Shaun lives with his mom in a really bleak town on the coast. Shaun is bullied at school. One day, by chance, Shaun meets a couple of skinheads who befriend him and take him under their wing. It's a coming-of-age situation complete with father figures. His new crowd have all the artifacts now associated with skinhead life -- it's all about the haircut, the boots and the clothes -- but none of the violence. For Shaun, it's a chance to belong to something, and there's even a much older girl who flirts with him.
All that changes with the return of Combo (Stephen Graham, in an astounding performance), a tough former member of the crowd who's just got out of jail. Combo grabs leadership of the gang and moves his followers into racism and violence.
This Is England is a cultural snapshot of overlooked people and places in the country a generation ago. Margaret Thatcher ruled the land, and as Combo's attitude illustrates, a perverse sort of nationalism grew out of fear, poverty and racial strife. Violence becomes a constant in the everyday life of a kid like Shaun.
An intelligent, spare, mean-streets sort of story, This Is England features superb performances, especially that from Thomas Turgoose, the non-professional young actor who plays Shaun. In an art-imitates-life sort of scenario, Turgoose turns out to be a disadvantaged adolescent with various problems at home and at school. He was taken under the filmmaker's wing, he did the role, and his life has been transformed by the experience and through continued guidance from cast and crew. That's the story within the story, but it's Turgoose's talent that will carry him in the end.
(This film is rated 18-A)
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