This Is England (2 Disc Edition) [2006]

---

---

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
If there’s a more exciting and diverse a film director currently working in the UK than Shane Meadows, then it’s reason to truly celebrate. In fact, the sheer quality of Meadow’s own output is enough reason to be enthused, not least his finest film to date, This Is England.

Set in the early 1980s, This Is England initially focuses on 12-year old Shaun (played by Thomas Turgoose, a real find), as he befriends a group of skinheads. Shaun bears the scars of the 80s, with his dad lost in the Falklands War, and his relationship with his new friends develops carefully across the first half of the film.

But it’s in the second half where This Is England soars. It’s not easy watching, as is the usual drill with Meadows’ best films, From a stunning tirade about the state of Britain, to moments of real unease and tension, it’s a terrific piece of cinema, and one destined to enjoy a healthy life on DVD. It’s also one that should, if there’s any justice, provide a major career springboard for its primarily unknown cast, and one that should get Meadows far more of the recognition he absolutely deserves.

Bluntly, not only is This Is England the best British film of the year. It’s a standout contender for the best film of 2007 full stop. It’s utterly superb, and it’d be remiss not to see it. --Jon Foster

---

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-07-09 rating:
GOOD FILM BUT DISSAPOINTED AT THE END
After waiting many months to see this i finally rented a copy, and settled to watch this film, loved the beginning showing all stuff 80's (im an 80's fan so this was brilliant)

The acting of Thomas Turgoos (Shaun) is superb, who starts as the feisty but lonely young man who gets accepted in the family of "Woody" and his mates. who eventually change him into a fully dressed skin head with matching D.M boots, but along comes the "serpent in the garden of eden" who is realeased from jail and portays a slighlty crazed right wing fascist named Combo which leads to tensions between the group.

Whilst there are some superb performances through out the film and some funny scenes, through out the film, Shane Meadows seems to lead you through this film with a building tension and you seem to wait in anticipation for something big to kick off which actually never happens, although the end is pretty disturbing it seemed that something bigger and better was to be delivered from Meadows which didn't quite happen.

Still a very good story and one which you cannot help feeling a certain affection for Shaun, the little lost boy who misses his Dad, and on the whole still a good film, but due to the ending have only rated it 4 Stars

---

review by: date: 2008-06-11 rating:
unrealistic?!
I've read reviews by people who claim that this film is unrealistic because characters like woody wouldn't survive in a real skin head gang. I think that characters like woody are what make it realistic.

the original kids were not a skin head gang! They were kids having a drink in the street, and the fact that they were diverse and also friendly meant they didn't fit the bill for some hollywood blockbuster with terrorising youths - they were real people!

This film inspired me because it didn't automatically assume that scruffy kids are automatically skin heads or pikeys. They are young, and the real skin head that takes them in represents extremely realistically the kind of conditioning that is given to these kids so that they are brainwashed into joining the national front for some kind of power.

I liked this film because it was realistic and didn't follow all the preconceptions of stereotypes that clearly many reviewers hold!

---

review by: Symphonic Metal Fan date: 2008-06-07 rating:
Very Faithful To 1983! And Just As Faithful To 2008.......
Another excellent film from Shane Meadows. I was 15 in 1983, and although I was never a Skinhead (I started off into metal, flirted with punk, dallied with electro before returning to metal and generally sticking with it) I've vivid memories of this era & this film is SO evocative, the clothes, the cars, even the shop fittings! Seriously, the production design is outstanding. This looks every bit as authentic as 1982's Made In Britain, ITV's well known Skinhead drama starring Tim Roth.
It's a strong film, very uncomfortable at times and many of the social issues addressed in the film are still relevant today, maybe even more so!
The acting is very intense & yet very, very natural as in Meadows previous movie, Dead Man's Shoes.
Don't expect the hardcore violence of Romper Stomper or the likes of Rise Of The Foot Soldier or Green Street - This is nothing like them - There is only one scene of explicit violence (although the build up to this is very disturbing) and viewers should not expect any scenes at all of rival gang wars with baseball bats & bike chains etc! It's very much grounded in reality, where even it's principal Skinhead 'villain', the fanatical Combo is shown to have flaws and weaknesses often missing from similiarly brutal characters.
Actually, the film depicts the Skins culture in a mostly positive fashion, where violence & intimidation was not the norm for many!
The language is VERY strong as you would expect and it shocks to hear a 12 year old boy using the F word liberally on film! Having said that, a walk around any high street today will soon erase that feeling!
Not giving anything away, but the ending is a little ambiguous; however 25 years on from 1983, many of This Is England's social problems are equally unresolved.
The score is very good, there's quite a bit of Ska & some Oi as the tone of the story darkens but also some excellent acoustic/orchestral pieces that really add feeling to the dramatics on screen - in much the same fashion as Shane Meadows previous work.
For anyone that liked: Made In Britain, American History X (nowhere near as violent as X) and the acting/direction of Dead Man's Shoes.

If you're just looking for punch ups, then this intelligent & provocative drama may dissapoint.

---

review by: date: 2008-06-05 rating:
Worst film I have ever seen
If anyone thinks this is going to be like Quadrophenia, think again. Where Quadrophenia had fine acting performances, a good script and captured the period perfectly this film did none of those things. The acting is beyond bad, it wouldn't even be good enough to get into an average school play. The script was so unbelievable and boring, I don't know how I stayed with it until the end. Nothing happened. Bit of a spoiler coming up: One part had the boy who looked about 8 or 9 going out with a girl who was about 16. The height difference was at least 2 feet and when they started kissing you could help but fall on the floor laughing.

As for some people saying it was realistic, they clearly do not know what they are talking about. It was the most unrealistic film I have ever seen. I grew up around that time and those characters would not have lasted 5 minutes in a proper skinhead gang. They just didn't act like that.

Can't understand how this won a BAFTA or how people are giving it 5 stars. It truly is an awful film. I wasted 1 hr 40 mins of my life that I can never can back so I'm warning other people please don't waste your time watching this. Desperately trying to find something positive to say as it is a British film, but afraid I can't. It's impossible to describe how bad it is. You have been warned




review by: date: 2008-06-04 rating:
This Is England
'This Is England' is a pretty stark and hard hitting look at skin head culture and life in 1980's England. It follows a young boy who becomes friends with a group of skin heads and the things in society that influenced them. It is expertly inter-cut with realtime footage from the Falklands war and other events from 1983 (when this film is set) and the actors are all pretty good at portraying the influences in England at that time. Some of the violence is quite brutal and it is depressing to see such harsh attitudes that were in England then. The main character is quite good in this, his first film, and the rest of the cast add the right mix of naivety (to be influenced so readily) and menace that they needed to have for this story to have it's full impact. This film has been highly lauded and it is very good indeed. It's well worth a viewing, but it can be quite graphic at times. A solid four stars.

---

Similar products

London To Brighton [2006]
Dead Man's Shoes [2004]
Outlaw [2007]
28 Weeks Later [2007]
Rise Of The Footsoldier [2007]

---

Similar categories

Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Drama
Video . DVD & VHS . Substores . Regular Stores . DVD Bargains . By Price . From £4.97 . DVDs from £4.97
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . DVD
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . BBFC Rating (intended_use_browse-bin) . 18
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Editions (feature_two_browse-bin) . Standard Edition
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Region(feature_browse-bin) . Region 2
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Language (theme_browse-bin) . English

---