2006 Directed by Shane Meadows
A story about a troubled boy growing up in England, set in 1983. He comes across a few skinheads on his way home from school, after a fight. They become his new best friends, even like family. Based on experiences of director Shane Meadows.
To wlasnie Anglia, Iste Ingiltere Bu, This Is England - Isto é Inglaterra, Isto é Inglaterra, This is England - Ende einer Kindheit, Это - Англия, Ez itt Anglia, Ovo je Engleska, Afti einai i Anglia, 디스 이즈 잉글랜드, C'est l'Angleterre
Politics and human rights War and historical adventure Underdogs and coming of age drugs, violence, crime, gritty or cops racism, african american, powerful, hatred or slavery school, teacher, student, classroom or kids war, soldiers, combat, military or fought political, democracy, documentary, president or propaganda Show All…
You never really think about kindness being a weapon until you realize everything you can do with it.
Be kind to the vulnerable and they will be loyal.
Be kind to the outcasted and they will be loyal.
Be kind to the scared and they will be loyal.
Take that kindness and refuse it to whoever you want. Whoever you deem to be different in the wrong kind of ways. Whoever you deem unworthy of it.
Turn that loyalty into a weapon and create an army. Until you’ve made your army confront ideas they didn’t have before you. Until they’re too scared to leave you. Until they realize what a monster you are and that it’s too…
One of the greatest ever films to come out of the UK. A powerful indictment of racism and fascist ideologies, truly one of the best films I’ve seen using a neo-realistic approach. Stephen Graham’s performance is frighteningly faultless.
When anger gets misappropriated it can be a very dangerous thing.
When hate is made out to be the evil, it's good. A film like this may be behind it's time, but it's message still translates. Hate will always exist (at least until that utopian society kicks in) and some of the most important films I've seen are movies that combat hate in this world. This focuses on the naivety of a young boy as he is swept up by a hate mongering group of skinheads in Britain. That's the setting, but it's not really the whole story. There's some stock footage at the beginning that sort of sets the mood, but it's by no means a dry historical drama.…
What a difference a name makes. Thirteen little letters. Deceptively prosaic. As humdrum and hackneyed as St George's flag. Stark white against violent red. But the symbols we sport and the banners we bear are never so simple. They are history and ideology, identity and community, victories and pride, shame and defeat.
Before Branagh, Sorrentino, Cuarón, and even Spielberg sought to encapsulate their adolescence in celluloid, Shane Meadows drew upon his formative years on film. Revisionist tendencies abound when the artist turns the lens inward. Many surrender to that hubristic urge to fabricate and modify their origins casting nary a dispersion on their rose-tinted memories. Meadows shows no such habitual flaw. For him, growing up English was neither prim nor…
I went into this not expecting to give it a 5 but I did. This film takes me on some crazy road. Every single bit of it made me feel something. Whether it was love, anger, loss or hate. It is a work of art. The performances are outstanding and Stephen Graham is a one of a kind actor. You can tell Shane Meadows is a filmmaker for cares about his work and is very proud of where he is from.
I have never been so happy to rewatch a film. If you haven’t seen this, please spare just an hour and 42 minutes of your life and enjoy the masterpiece.
Boots and braces don't make you a racist, but Stephen Graham’s constant outflux of xenophobic verbal diarrhea could.
Meadows' masterpiece, topped off by a towering and terrifying performance from Stephen Graham that, if it were a big budget Hollywood film, would have bagged an Oscar in a heartbeat. A true snapshot in time/state of the nation piece, not just for 1983 when the film is set but 2006 when the film was made, and beyond. Both nostalgic and a warning from history, its a stunning feature that has been built upon with each instalment of the TV sequels.
This is England is based on incidents from the directors' childhood. It's a stunning, brutal look at 1983 Britain. The performance by the lead actor Thomas Turgoose was incredible, but Stephen Graham's Combo was even better. The looks and aesthetics of the film are fantastic. And it's got one of the best soundtracks ever put on film.
Really good film!
I disagree with those who feel that the ending of this film seems contrived. To me, the ending felt, for the first time, like a clear look into Shaun's mind, and a reflection of his emotional state throughout the whole film. A great movie, which ends with an equally great song.
A sincere, reflective but ultimately terrifying look at a very influential time in every young person’s life.
It’s that period when friends are more important than family, and no matter the circumstances that surround us, all we feel is the kind of ignorant hope that comes from having more years in front, rather than behind us. It’s the time in our lives when we are most open to new experiences of love and friendship, but also susceptible to indoctrination and hatred.
Meadows uses the skinhead scene of the early 80’s to explore working class complexities and contradictions with a kind of thoughtfulness that’s frequently missing from these kinds of movies.
There’s no poverty porn here; no judgment.
Just an honest look at a country slowly being torn apart at the seams by hatred and despair.
Masterpiece.
