This Is England

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For the song by The Clash, see This Is England (song).
This Is England

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Shane Meadows
Produced by Mark Herbert
Written by Shane Meadows
Paddy Considine (uncredited)
Starring Thomas Turgoose
Joe Gilgun
Andrew Shim
Vicky McClure
Stephen Graham
Rosamund Hanson[1]
Music by Ludovico Einaudi
Cinematography Danny Cohen
Editing by Chris Wyatt
Studio Film4
Warp Films
Distributed by Optimum Releasing
Release date(s) 27 April 2007 (2007-04-27)
Running time 101 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Budget $2,380,000[2]
Box office $8,176,544[3]

This Is England is a 2006 British drama film written and directed by Shane Meadows. The story centres on young skinheads in England in 1983. The film illustrates how their subculture, which has its roots in 1960s West Indian culture, especially ska, soul and reggae music,[4] [5] became adopted by white nationalists, which led to divisions within the skinhead scene.

In 2010 a spin-off series set three years after the film, This Is England '86, was shown on Channel 4. A sequel, set two and a half years after the previous series, This Is England '88, was broadcast in December 2011. The third and final installment, This Is England '90, is due in 2012. [6]

Contents

[edit] Plot

Shaun (Thomas Turgoose), a 12 year-old schoolboy, gets into a fight at school after someone makes an offensive joke about his father, who died in the Falklands War. On his way home Shaun runs into a group of young skinheads led by Woody (Joe Gilgun), who feels sympathy for Shaun and invites him to join the group. They accept Shaun as a member and he finds a big brother in Woody, while developing a romance with Smell (Rosamund Hanson), an older girl who dresses in a punky new wave style.

Combo (Stephen Graham), an older skinhead, returns to the group after a prison sentence. He expresses English nationalist and racist views, and attempts to enforce his leadership over the other skinheads. This leads the group to split. Shaun stays in Combo's group instead of the apolitical skinheads led by Woody. Combo is impressed by and identifies with Shaun, who in turn sees Combo as a mentor figure. Shaun goes with Combo's group to a National Front meeting. After group member Pukey (Jack O'Connell) expresses doubt over the group's racist and nationalistic politics, Combo threatens and abandons him. The gang then engages in racist antagonism of, among others, local shopkeeper Mr. Sandhu, an Asian man who had previously banned Shaun from his shop.

Combo becomes depressed after Woody's girlfriend Lol, whom Combo has loved since they had drunken sex years before, rejects him. To console himself, Combo buys cannabis from Milky (Andrew Shim), a member of Woody's group, and the only black skinhead. At a party with Shaun and the other members of Combo's group, Combo and Milky bond while intoxicated. Milky tells Combo about his many relatives and invites him for a meal. Combo becomes agitated with Milky's discussion and snaps at him, violently beating him unconscious and attacking the other nationalists there. An emotionally regretful Combo then realises what he has done and seeks Shaun's help to get Milky to hospital. Afterwards, Shaun's mother reassures him that Milky will be all right. Shaun goes down to the shore and tosses a flag of St. George's Cross, a gift from Combo, into the sea.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Soundtrack

This Is England Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released 23rd April 2007
Genre Rock
Pop
Brit pop
Reggae
Jazz Rock
Label Commercial Marketing
Shane Meadows film soundtracks chronology
Dead Man's Shoes
(2004)		 This Is England
(2006)		 Somers Town
(2008)

[edit] Track listing

  1. "54-46 Was My Number" - Toots & The Maytals
  2. "Come On Eileen" - Dexys Midnight Runners
  3. "Tainted Love" - Soft Cell
  4. "Underpass/Flares" - Movie Dialogue From This Is England
  5. "Nicole (Instrumental)" - Gravenhurst
  6. "Cynth / Dad" - Movie Dialogue From This Is England
  7. "Morning Sun" - Al Barry & The Cimarons
  8. "Shoe Shop" - Movie Dialogue From This Is England
  9. "Louie Louie" - Toots & The Maytals
  10. "Pressure Drop" - Toots & The Maytals
  11. "Hair In Cafe" - Movie Dialogue From This Is England
  12. "Do The Dog" - The Specials
  13. "Ritornare" - Ludovico Einaudi
  14. "This Is England" - Movie Dialogue From This Is England
  15. "Return Of DJango" - Lee "Scratch" Perry, The Upsetters
  16. "Warhead" - UK Subs
  17. "Fuori Dal Mondo" - Ludovico Einaudi
  18. "Since Yesterday" - Strawberry Switchblade
  19. "Tits" - Movie Dialogue From This Is England
  20. "The Dark End Of The Street" - Percy Sledge
  21. "Oltremare" - Ludovico Einaudi
  22. "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" (The Smiths cover) - Clayhill
  23. "Dietro Casa" - Ludovico Einaudi
  24. "Never Seen The Sea" - Gavin Clark (of Clayhill)

Additional music from the film includes:

  1. "Pomp And Circumstance March No 1 in D. OP 39/1" - Edward Elgar Performed by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
  2. "Maggie Gave A Thistle" - Wayne Shrapnel and The Oi Stars
  3. "Let's Dance" - Jimmy Cliff

[edit] Filming

Much of the film was shot in residential areas of Nottingham, including St Ann's, Lenton and The Meadows, with one section featuring abandoned houses at the former airbase RAF Newton, outside of Bingham, Nottinghamshire.[7] The opening fight was filmed at Wilsthorpe Business and Enterprise College, a secondary school in Derbyshire.[8] Additional scenes such as "the docks" were filmed in Turgoose's home town of Grimsby, which is also the opening scene for This is England '86, episode one.

Turgoose was 13 at the time of filming.[9] 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.[10] The film was dedicated to Turgoose's mother, Sharon, who died of cancer on 29 December 2005; while she never saw the film, she saw a short preview. The cast attended her funeral.

[edit] Setting

The film is set in an unidentified town in the Midlands. Although much of the film was shot on location in Nottingham, a number of scenes feature the town's docks, which precludes this inland city being the setting for the action. Similarly the accents of the main characters are drawn from a wide geographical area.

[edit] Reception

On 5 January 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 93% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 82 reviews.[11] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 86 out of 100, based on 23 reviews — indicating "universal acclaim".[12] This made it the tenth best reviewed film of the year.[13] The film appeared on several US critics' top ten movie lists of 2007; it was third on the list by Newsweek's David Ansen, seventh on the list by The Oregonian's Marc Mohan, and ninth on the list by Los Angeles Times' Kevin Crust.[14] In Britain, director Gillies Mackinnon rated the film the best of the year[15] and David M. Thompson, critic and film-maker, rated it third.[16] The film was ranked fourteenth in The Guardian's list of 2007's Best Films[17] and fifteenth in Empire's Movies of the Year.

The film won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the 2007 British Academy Film Awards. It also won the Best Film category at the 2006 British Independent Film Awards, Thomas Turgoose winning the Most Promising Newcomer award.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (2007-04-27). "This Is England". The Guardian (London). http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_Film_of_the_week/0,,2066120,00.html. Retrieved 2010-05-25. 
  2. ^ "This is England". The Numbers. http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2007/0TIEN.php. Retrieved 27 November 2011. 
  3. ^ "This Is England". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=thisisengland.htm. Retrieved 27 November 2011. 
  4. ^ Brown, Timothy S. (2004). "Subcultures, pop music and politics: skinheads and "Nazi rock" in England and Germany". Journal of Social History. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2005/is_1_38/ai_n6234788/pg_1. 
  5. ^ 'Cropping the skinhead image'. Guardian Books Blog. (26 April 2007). Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  6. ^ [1]
  7. ^ "Films made in Nottingham". Thisisnottingham.co.uk. (29 November 2008). Retrieved on 6 April 2009.
  8. ^ BBC News report 12 September 2005
  9. ^ "Teenager Tommo lands gritty role". BBC News. 2007-04-27. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/6599235.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-25. 
  10. ^ Thomas Turgoose: the 13-year-old cheeky chappy goes from Grimsby to the big screen | YOU Magazine
  11. ^ "This Is England - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/this_is_england/. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
  12. ^ "This Is England (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/thisisengland. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
  13. ^ "The Best-Reviewed Movies of 2007". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/awards. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
  14. ^ "Metacritic: 2007 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2008-01-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20080102102034/http://www.metacritic.com/film/awards/2007/toptens.shtml. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
  15. ^ "The Insider's View, 21 December 2007". London: The Independent. 2007-12-21. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-insiders-view-the-best-films-of-2007-766500.html. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
  16. ^ "Films of the Year 2007". Sight & Sound. http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/pdf/films-of-the-year-2007.pdf. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
  17. ^ "2007's Best Films". London: The Guardian. 2007-12-07. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/dec/07/2007inreview1. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 

[edit] External links

Films directed by Shane Meadows
1990s
2000s
Short Films
  • Where's the Money, Ronnie? (1996)
  • Three Tears for Jimmy Prophet (1997)
  • Northern Soul (2004)
  • The Stairwell (2005)
Best Film
Best Film Not in the
English Language
Best British Film

My Name Is Joe (1998) · Wonderland (1999) · Billy Elliot (2000) · Sexy Beast (2001) · Sweet Sixteen (2002) · Dirty Pretty Things (2003) · Vera Drake (2004) · The Constant Gardener (2005) · This Is England (2006) · Control (2007) · Slumdog Millionaire (2008) · Moon (2009) · The King's Speech (2010)
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