However, this happiness soon comes to an abrupt halt when the racist gang leader, Combo, comes out fresh from prison and sees Shaun as a younger version of himself. Combo shows Woody that he is the leader again and splits the group into two, which are the non-racist skinheads, who is Woody and the gang, and the white power skinheads, which is Combo and his crew. Combo gives the groups the choice in which group to side but Combo persuades Shaun to join his gang in order to make his father proud. Shaun makes this choice after Combo gives both gangs a lecture about the poor innocent English people that died in the war and this makes Shaun think. Combo’s aim is to harass and destroy the lives of local ethnic minorities, such as Pakistani’s, who are stealing their jobs and wants to defend his country. Combo’s quest to defend his homeland, however, this turn’s into violence. Shaun’s childhood soon turns from innocence to experience, where he learns to stand up for himself.
This film is based on the director’s, Shane Meadows’, autobiography of his life as a child. Meadows tells the story in the way he lived it as a young boy, honestly and truthfully. Meadows’ experiences are explored and are shown as he saw them through his eyes. I felt that Meadows paints a picture of 1980’s England, begging the viewers to ask, what is England? I thought about this the whole way through the film and even when the film had finished I had to think it through again.
The key issues in this film are racism, violence, bullying and subcultures. The film touches upon the racism in a delicate way and the actors who suffered at the hand of the racism were excellent. The bullying and violence at school towards Shaun showed that it is all ages that get bullied, usually for unknown reasons. Luckily, Shaun was confident enough to share what was happening to him to his mother, who did not really help him in any way, and woody’s gang, which is when Shaun turned his life around. The other issue is subcultures, which are still around today and there is not much difference between what they were like then and what they are like now.
I think the only parts that are missing in this film is right at the beginning, where we are left wondering what had happened to Shaun’s father because it was not very obvious whether he had died or whether he had left them. It was not clear to the audience at all. We did not find out what actually happened to his father until Combo comes out of prison, when he his taking the Mick out of soldiers in the Falklands War. I also found that the characters background stories were not explored enough and we, as the viewers are left wondering what made those people who they are and what will become of them in the future. One thing that did not bother me but may bother others was the continual usages of swear words in every sentence. However, that was what made the film so powerful and dramatic. Some people that watch the film may find some of the language very offensive, especially the older people that watch it. The language may also encourage 15 year olds plus to use this sort of language because that is the age the film is rated for. I disagree with the age rating, I believe that this film should definitely be rated as an 18 because of the violence, racism and the language used in it. The one disappointment I found quite annoying was right at the very end when there was just a sudden ending. I personally would have liked to know whether Milky, the black gang member survived and whether Shaun went back to Woody and his gang or whether he went back to school and was bullied again. Apart from these few things that I thought could have made the film even better than it already is, the film is brilliant!
I think the use of the music was fantastic and really fit into the film well. The music is what makes the film much more emotional than it already is and sets the mood for the rest of the film. Most of the music was quite sad, however, there were some classic 80’s songs amongst them, including 54-46 Was My Number - Toots & The Maytals and Come On Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners.
At the start of the film, clips of what was happening in England in the 1980’s were shown, including Margaret Thatcher, Princess Dianne and Charles’ wedding, rubix cubes, poverty and the war, which made you get into the right frame of mind for the film and reminded the audience of the types of things that were going on in that time.
This is an amazing film with huge amounts of passion and sensitivity in it, which really touched my heart whilst watching it. I fell in love with the film and I could watch it over and over again. I do feel that this film is very trustworthy and accurate because of the fact that Meadows constructed it as an autobiography and these are based on a person’s life story and experiences. I found that there is a lot of similarities between 1983 and 2007 infact, has anything changed at all? We still have an incredible amount of violence going on, gangs are still around and racism is still a big issue in the country. However, I do not think this will ever stop, infact, I personally think things may get worse as the bullying, violence, vandalism and crime, etc are all happening from very young children and think that it is ‘cool’ to do so.
I would definitely recommend this film to somebody my age because it shows the similarities and differences of England in the 1980’s and nowadays in 2007/8. Having not been born until 1989, I have very little knowledge about what England was like in the 1980’s. That was until I researched upon it after watching ‘This Is England’ and found the film is very accurate in how the story of young Thomas was told. I really felt this film was told from the heart of Shane Meadow’s, and being an autobiography of what his life was like, this made the film extra special as you know that the film was based on a true story. Therefore, I would recommend this fantastic, emotional, expressive and powerful film to someone my age and I can almost guarantee that they will enjoy the film just as much as I did.
