This is England

About the movie

This Is England tells the story of Shaun, a 12-year-old kid growing up without a father in the north of England. Set during the summer holidays of 1983, we chart his rites of passage from scruffy misfit grieving the loss of his father into a shaven-headed thug whose anger and pain are embraced by the local skinhead fraternity. With a shell of a mother and no father to guide him, Shaun seems set for self-destruction, but it's not long before things turn sour with his new-found 'friends' and Shaun soon learns that violence is the coward's answer.
As with all of Meadows's work (Twenty Four Seven, Dead Man´s Shoes) there is a kinetic force to the narrative that matches the edgy content. The gradual radicalization of a boy who turns into a Clockwork Orange-like goon is compelling and believable. Meadows proves once more that he is an artist unafraid of confronting the dark side of the new Britain. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2006.

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