'This is England': en filmanalyse

“This is England” takes place in the early eighties and fallows the young and lonely Shaun, who lives alone with his mom. After being teased by a bunch of kids because of his flared pants Shaun walks home from school with a pouting expression on his face. And that is where he meets the funny and friendly Woody along with his skinhead gang. They accept him and make him a part of the gang and Shaun discovers parties, girls and gets even his first kiss by a wannabe “Boy George” punk girl called “Smell”. Everything seems perfect for Shaun until an older and psychotic skinhead member, Combo, returns from prison and Shaun is forced to make some difficult decisions. Woody is for some reason anxious around Combo and ends up leaving his gang along with Milky who is from Jamaica. But is little Shaun ready for the new changes and can he handle Combo’s psychotic and sudden fury? This is England is a look back at the early eighties of British working-class life through the eyes of young Shaun and his new gang, and dealing with the bitterness of outside influences such as racism, poverty, mass unemployment and the fall out of the Falkland's War. The movie gives you a great look at the time and environment with a sense of humour and is definitely worth watching. It has an important and remarkable message and is one of those movies you will try to analyze later on the day. The only thing that bothered me was the fact that Shaun was only twelve years old and suddenly has a bunch of grown-ups hanging out and listening to him, but the actors does a remarkable job with portraying the characters so the age of twelve year old Shaun becomes an insignificant detail and does not spoil the movie. I think it is one of the best race-related movies since “American History X”. It gives you a look at the darker side of English history and what prejudice, racism and hatred can do to you. With that said it deserves 4 out of 5 stars