This is England

A good, but disturbing, film seen on tv this week.

This Is England

Directed by
Shane Meadows
Produced by
Mark Herbert
Written by
Shane Meadows
Starring
Thomas TurgooseJoseph GilgunAndrew ShimVicky McClureStephen GrahamJo HartleyChanel CresswellRosamund Hanson
Music by
Ludovico Einaudi
Cinematography
Gonzalo Fernández Berridi
Editing by
Chris Wyatt
Release date(s)
27 April 2007
Running time
100 minutes
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Budget
£1.5 million (estimated)

This Is England is a 2006 film written and directed by Shane Meadows, director of other films such as Dead Man's Shoes and A Room for Romeo Brass, and starring Thomas Turgoose. The film is a drama centred on young skinheads, set in England in July 1983.

The film was shown at various international film festivals, including London, and special permission was granted to Meniscus for it to be shown at Grimsby's Whitgift Film Theatre. The film was given an 18 certificate by the BBFC due to its racist language and incidence of violence. However, some councils such as Bristol, Camden and Westminster have chosen to overturn this, feeling the film should more widely reach its target audience of teenagers.

Thomas Turgoose, who was 11 at the time of filming, took the leading role and has appeared on TV and radio shows such as Soccer A.M., South Bank Show and GMTV, and has been interviewed by Edith Bowman on her BBC Radio One slot. Turgoose had never acted before, had been banned from his school play for bad behaviour, and demanded £5 to turn up for the film's auditions. The film was dedicated to Turgoose's mother, Sharon, who died of cancer on 29 December 2005; she never got to see the film, although she saw a short preview.

Much of the film was shot in predominantly residential areas of Nottingham, including St Ann's, Lenton and The Meadows amongst others, with one section involving some abandoned houses being filmed at the former airbase RAF Newton just outside of Bingham, Nottinghamshire. The opening fight sequence was filmed in a secondary school on the Derbyshire border. Additional scenes were filmed in Grimsby, Turgoose's home town.


Themes
The film highlights the fact that the skinhead subculture, which is partly based on elements of black culture (especially ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul music), eventually became adopted by white nationalist groups such as the National Front. The story focuses on young Shaun (Thomas Turgoose), who, after suffering bullying at school and having to deal with the death of his father in the Falklands War, falls in with a group of older skinheads. When National Front member Combo (Stephen Graham) returns from prison and asserts his leadership, the group splits into two factions: non-racist skinheads and white power skinheads. What follows is an often-disturbing view of 1980s England featuring the ramifications of the Falklands War and the rise of white nationalism, all portrayed through the eyes of a boy forced to face the frightening realities of adulthood before his time.