This Is England: No Nostalgia for the Thatcher Era

Dean Rogers/IFC First Take

Turgoose grows up in a hurry.

Details

Runs at Varsity, Fri., Sept. 7–Thurs., Sept. 13. Rated R. 102 minutes.

Related Content

• PICK Somers Town: An Adorable Boy Lost in the Big (Not So Bad) City
  September 16, 2009
• The Edge of Heaven: A pomo, post-colonial, polyglot soap opera
  August 13, 2008
• Cougars and Killers of Sheep
  November 21, 2007
• Nate Robinson, Little King
  April 8, 2009
• SIFF Week One: Picks and Pans
  May 23, 2007

More About

• Shane Meadows
• Thomas Turgoose
• Stephen Graham
• Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Science and Technology

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Drawing on memories of a specific place and time—England in the early '80s—writer-director Shane Meadows nails the look and feel of a shabby provincial town, its restless youth, and the tribes they form. Though fewer than 300 British lives were lost in the Falklands War, the whole world is taken from a boy named Shaun (Thomas Turgoose), whose father died in battle. Our pudgy little Shaun of the dead comes to life on contact with Woody (Joe Gilgun), the charismatic leader of a local skinhead crew whose leadership comes under attack by Combo (Stephen Graham), a skinhead of a different stripe—the kind that twists into a swastika. Meadows re-creates skinhead subculture with equal care for its accoutrements—shaved heads, ska records—and origins as a youth movement based on working-class solidarity, not race hatred. This Is England goes on to examine the psychology of fascism from two angles, at two stages of its development. The story of Shaun is a cautionary tale about the susceptibility of needy young men to the rigors of far-right ideology. Combo is a case study in the inevitable result: social and psychic violence. Meadows undermines this theme by reducing it all to daddy issues. Facile pop psychology is the real tragedy here, a double disappointment given the film's smart take on pop culture.