This Is England (2006, Dir. Shane Meadows) First Response

Rating: 8/10

This Is England tells a story about a lonely young boy who starts out just wanting friends and to belong and ends up at the centre of a nationalist gang. The film does a really good job at showing a bleak story, and makes great use of its British setting, making me connect to the film as the scenery creates a sense of familiarity in me, especially scenes in the fields or the streets. The story is told well and the characters are interesting, though I found the scenes with Smell and Shaun quite uncomfortable. I would probably watch this again.

Memorable Scene: Combo Splits The Gang

This is the scene where the actual plot of This Is England begins. Combo, one of Woody’s friends, has just been let out of prison, and in the prior scene he made a racist joke in front of Milky, the only black member of the gang. In this scene, he begins by apologising to Milky, and then begins berating Woody for not doing anything. He then begins a monologue after asking Milky if he considered himself English or Jamaican (to which he responded English) in which he claims the idea of an English identity is fading and that British people are being forced out of living comfortably in their country while immigrants get housing and such. Its a rant that clearly shows the type of character Combo is, and immediately the audience should be clued in that he is becoming the film’s antagonist. The scene uses long shots (such as the one above) showing Combo’s back as he gives his speech to the room of skinheads, and close ups of the characters faces in response to his ranting. In the speech he brings up the Falkland Islands war going on (the film is set in the 80’s), which prompts the main character Shaun to tell him that his father died in that war. What follows is what cements Combo as the villain: he uses the death of Shaun’s father to manipulate Shaun into joining his nationalist group. He weaponizes ideas of patriotism and death in war meaning something in order to convince a young boy to join a nationalist regime. In the end, Woody leaves with Lol, Milky and some others, while Gadget, the groups punching bag, Kes, the short tempered one, and Shaun stay behind. Combo has officially separated Shaun from the kinder people in the skinhead gang, and Shaun is now vulnerable to Combo’s preaching.