'This is England'(2006) Review

As it was expected, it's movie time review.
'This is England' made in 2006 directed by Shane Meadows. The time of the story is placed in England, year 1983, main character is a small boy named Shaun(Thomas Turgoose), a 12 year old boy that lives only with his mother and who's father died fighting in Falklands War. One day when the schools were breaking for the summer holiday, after Shaun has a fight at school with a kids that picks about Shaun's dad, he meets Woody(Joseph Gilgun) - a teenager charismatic Skinhead - who seems to like Shaun and take him under his wing. Woody and the rest of the gang embrace Shaun and treat him like one of their own. Shaun also likes his new friends and shortly after joining the group he becomes one of them by adopting the same haircut, same clothes and always hanging around with his new friends.

The situation changes when one night at one of their parties recently prison released Combo(Stephen Graham) - an old Skinhead - returns home. Once best friends Combo and Woody now divide the gang in two. Blaming England's economic woes, growing unemployment and post-war grievances on the influx of foreign minorities, Combo persuades Shaun and other members of the pack to make a stand, preserving England for the English. After attending a meeting of right-wing nationalists, Combo takes his new found gang of hooligans to threaten the local Pakistani community.

The end of the movies reveals Combo's emotional battles with loneliness and isolation. Combo's hate and envy overflows when one night, he turns his rage against the only black member of the gang, Milky(Andrew Shim). Combo's explosion of fury ends tragically with Milky's death which changes Shaun's viewpoint.

For those interested in more details about this movie:
- pictures from making "This is England";
- trailer for "This is England";
- imdb page for "This is England";
- official page for "This is England";