This is England(2006)d/Shane Meadows

I ordered this the first time on pay-per-view last year while on vacation down in Texas,not expecting too much,as the cinema makes an annoying habit of painting the worst possible picture of skinheads to fill theater seats,don't they?Well,I was pleasantly surprised here.This is a film you owe at least one viewing to.It's an engrossing story about growing up in England in the early eighties,when everybody who was anybody threw on a pair of boots and braces.It captures the feelings,the music,the style,and throws it all up there on the screen without getting too preachy in either direction like you might think.The performances are all solid,especially newcomer Thomas Turgoose,who I expect we'll be seeing a lot more of in the future,and Steven Graham(Tommy from Guy Ritchie's Snatch).The emperor approves.

Shaun(Thomas Turgoose) meets a crew of skinheads under the bridge.Ain't that always the case?
Shaun is young British boy who's lost his dad in the Faulkland War,lives with his mum,and dresses in dated flared trousers,which causes rude boys at his school to take the piss out of him,forcing him to get into rucks and that lot.Even the Paki who runs the corner store gives him bovver 'bout reading the funnies without paying for 'em.Bollocks.One day,young Shaun meets a crew of skins in his travels,freshcuts led by a lanky fucker named Woody and his mate Milky,a Jamaican rude boy.Woody likes the lad,and takes him in,and before too long,shaves him up and even buys the boy his first Ben Sherman button down.Shaun's mum is a bit upset about his new haircut,but she appreciates the boys befriending her son and all that.At first,things is real
ace,hanging out an' all that,Shaun even kisses a bird.But one night,their get-together is interrupted by one of Woody's old mates,Combo(Steven Graham),who went up for three and a half years,who pays the boys a surprise visit.Now Combo is an old head,from the days of '69,but jail has not only polarized him racially,but it's made him a bit nutty,really.Woody's crew don't stand for much more than having a laugh together,but Combo's out to change all that,innit he?

Skingirls shave Shaun into the ranks.I could use a trim,girls?Eh?
Combo splits Woody's crew down the middle,causing Woody and his bird Lol to keep their distance(Lol also hooked up with Combo for a drunken grope before he went down,back when she was a teenager adding to the awkwardness of the whole situation).Combo takes his troops to an NF rally out in the countryside,and before long,he's got the boys misspelling words like "nationalist" in spray-painted graffiti,noising up the Hindus,and even robbing the pisshead at the corner store,in the name of British Pride.While little Shaun is hanging St. George's Cross banners in his window,Combo pulls Lol aside on her way to work,and gives her a wooden box he made her while he was inside.She slags him down,telling him she's spent these past years trying to forget their hookup.Combo goes a little mental in the car,before looking up Milky,the rude boy,to score some weed and take the edge off.That night Combo gets the lads stoned,bonding with Milky,until the black lad's talk of his family and their closeness sends Combo off his nut,earning him a kicked in head.Young Shaun's a bit jaded after all this now,innit he?

Combo(Steven Graham)expresses his nationalism with a machete.
Usually I scrutinize subject matter like this with a (sharpened)metal comb,looking for discrepancies,and I have to report:this time around,I found none.It doesn't really side with the left-wingers OR the right-wingers,which for a movie of this type is a rare bird indeed.The accuracy of the subject matter is pretty close too,and you can take that from someone who's lived all of this for a long,long time now.A really good film,this.Even if you weren't a British bootboy in the eighties,you'll enjoy it.I give it a very solid rating of:

Milky's taken a right kickin',innit he?