| Dir. Shane Meadows, 2006, UK, 100
mins
Cast: Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham, Joseph Gilgun, Vicky
McClure
Review by Richard Badley
If there's a consistently challenging filmmaking
force in British cinema then it has to be Shane Meadows,
a director who refuses to take the easy road to make low-budget
films that offer gritty social realism which is the mainstay
of the country's greatest output. Even when mixed with genre,
such as the hardcore revenge violence of Dead Man's Shoes,
a viewer knows that a Meadows film can be both grimly funny
and painfully hard and often concentrates on a weak male
figure looking to a stronger man for guidance. This Is England
is no exception and it seems that previous films have simply
been a preparation for this masterfully realised slice of
working class '80s Britain that draws heavily on Meadows'
own childhood spent avoiding Thatcher's iron boot.
The film centres around 12-year-old
Shaun, played with great maturity by first-timer Thomas
Turgoose whose odd looks (“I
didn't know Keith Chegwin had a son,” taunts one bully)
leaves him socially maligned and with his father killed in
the Falklands, desperately searching for a role-model. His
mother, Jo Hartley in full Deidre Barlow mode circa big glasses
and even bigger perm, rolls her eyes, but is relieved when
Shaun falls in with good-hearted Woody (Gilgun) and his gang
of joshing skinheads. But once Shaun is ingratiated via the
uniform of Ben Sherman shirts and Doc Martin's a bigger test
of faith comes when the gang's power shifts to the imposing
presence of the double-hard Combo (Graham) recently released
from prison. Angry with much of the country Combo seems to
give Shaun something to direct his hate at and the boy quickly
falls in with bad company and the National Front party. It
isn't long before Shaun's coming of age becomes one of violence,
racism and the sickening realisation of what England can
mean in the darkest hearts of its countrymen.
Despite its perfect reconstruction
of England in 1983: documentary footage reminds viewers
of Roland Rat, Blockbusters but also nightmarish scenes
of strikes and rioting while the tragic dress sense is
relived in superb detail, This Is England is as much a
statement on the condition of the country now than how
it was over 20 years ago. Petty vandalism might have moved
on from a blatant “Maggie is a twat” daub,
but the association of gang culture with wayward youth and
the endless scenes of death in Iraq prove that little has
changed. With renewed concerns about Britain's relaxed immigration
laws, Meadows seems to be issuing a warning about powerful,
charismatic men like Combo corrupting the nation's youth
and during the character's showcase speech in the film, ranting
about fewer jobs – “Welcome, have a nice trip?
Here's a corner shop to run or better still a church to practice
your own religion” – it's scary how believable
he can be.
But it quickly becomes apparent that
Combo's racist views are merely a vent, an excuse to take
out his problems on other people, and Meadows teases out
a tragic back story of a life gone to waste. It's a stunning
performance by Graham whose volatile presence broods unease
in every scene and while there's little violence in the
film it's the fear of it that is used to great effect.
Young Shaun is too busy growing up to notice the dark road
he's being lead down and his story carries the lighter
moments; his bashful seduction of the much older Smell
(“Wanna suck my tits?”)
and his innocent friendship with the trendy black guy Milky,
blinds him to what the real intentions the National Front
are leading toward.
This Is England is a masterpiece of recent British cinema.
Despite a period backdrop it creates a slice of life with
great relevance to today's apathetic culture and a stark
warning about the true meaning of racial hatred. With great
characters and a humorous yet intense script, Meadows shows
how complex, violent males should be portrayed and it's in
a league of its own when compared to pretender-to-the-throne
Nick Love's more brutish studies. True British filmmaking
by a director who really is a man of the people.
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