This Is England

A powerful look at the way the skinhead subculture was infiltrated and appropriated by the far right in the 1980s. The film feels 80s and the minor details such as recurring graffiti saying ‘Maggie is a twat’ and other things just adds to the authenticity of 1980s Northern Council Estate. The film speaks to a number of social issues relevant in the 80s, the 2000s when the film was made, and today. Timeless.  The film captures the experiences of a boy whose father had died in the Falklands War, in a way exploring the abject failure of the Thatcher government to provide support for those who lost loved ones in a conflict it was engaged in. He is slowly groomed into the far right, made more tragic as it seems as though he doesn’t really understand what he is actually doing with Combo - he follows him and his beliefs as he would a parent, perhaps another angle on the failure of Thatcher to provide support to children of Falklands casualties. The child acting is solid, but Stephen Graham in particular is incredibly talented. He goes from reserved and amicable to screw loose madman in seconds, you can really feel his anger and loathing while watching this movie. Unfortunately I thought the scenes with Shaun and Smell really detracted from the experience and were really weird as Shaun is clearly a 12/13 year old boy and smell looks around 17-20 years old. Maybe there’s some social commentary or message here that was relevant when this film was made that I’m missing entirely.