29 Apr 2007
This Is England-Film review
Thomas Turgoose ... Shaun
Stephen Graham ... Combo
Jo Hartley ... Cynthia Fields
Andrew Shim ... Milky
Vicky McClure ... Lol
Joseph Gilgun ... Woody
Perry Benson ... Meggy
George Newton ... Banjo
Frank Harper ... Lenny
Jack O'Connell ... Pukey Nicholls
Kieran Hardcastle ... Kez
I watched This is England last night. I was a bit shellshocked by it all. I love Shane meadows films. "A room for Romeo Brass" is one of my favourite films of all time! He has a skill, where he can capture brilliant snapshots of England in a most authentic way. Sometimes laugh out loud funny, other times parts that most of us would rather forget. This is England is defined in exactly this way.
The Film follows a young boy,Shaun (played brilliantly by Thomas Turgoose) still coming to terms about losing his father in the Faulklands war, and the realisation that his flared trousers are the bane of his life. He falls in with a bunch of local skinhead boys and girls. This gang has a heart, and they take Shaun under their wings and encourage him to get rid of the flares and join their gang. All goes well until the introduction of "Combo", an old friend of the skin gangs Leader, Woody. Combo manages to break the gang in two...and quickly establishes his motives. Suddenly the film becomes very dark. Combo, (a sterling performance by Liverpool actor, Stephen Graham) manages to charm you and make you recoil in horror, in equal measures. Capable of intelligent rousing motivational rants, and intense violence he tries to control everyone around him.
I won't spoil the film by exposing the storyline, but I do want to mention Meadows uncanny knack for getting it right. I can personally vouch for the "nice Skinhead" gang that some sceptics claim never existed. Like Shaun, I found myself befriending a gang of skinheads in the late 70's, early 80's..They were all older than me and they looked after me. They remain some of the nicest people I have ever met. The Skin girls would shop for me, or tell me if I got it wrong, and they introduced me to Ska, reggae and gange.
I can also admit that there were also horrible right wing skinheads in and around the scene who were very clever, and would try to get under your skin in exactly the same way Combo does here...the film evoked a ton of memories one of which was almost identical to a scene in the film. I remember me ma (a single parent) being too poor to buy my the doc martins I craved for and convincing me either Monkey boots or a blag version of D.M.'s called Major Domo's were the way forward! Meadows gets it all in there, the soundtrack and the newsclips help recreate the 80's right before your eyes, just a shame that Two Tone doesn't feature.
The film makes you ask questions of yourself, and can be very uncomfortabe (Just as Romeo Brass did). Its a fascinating film, and captures a period of time in Britain that for all its horrors, war, strikes, riots, Thatcher and mass unemployment etc etc remains in my memory as one of the most exciting periods of my life. It will be interesting to see if people who hadn't been through it will relate to this film. I know for a fact I could go and watch this film with two different groups of friends and get two completly different reactions. But guaranteed, it will get a reaction!
Go and see this, and then go and get "A room for Romeo Brass" on DVD!...see Milky and Lol in a whole new light!
Hail Shane Meadows! He is the leading light in British film making
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