This Is England Micro Elements

Sound

The scene at the end when Combo snaps and beats Milky into unconsciousness uses a piano score as the backdrop. Another filmmaker may have decided to include high tempo, energetic, dramatic music behind such a brutal scene, but Meadows instead uses a slow, sombre piano score. This could be to show that this is the biggest emotional low point of the film, and the biggest turning point of all the main characters present: It breaks Combo, it leaves the kind and well meaning Milky a battered unconscious body, and most importantly it disillusions Shaun to Combo’s nationalist rhetoric. The sound also uses pretty heavy sounds for Combo’s punches, making it clear to the viewer that he is really trying to do serious damage to this person who never did anything to him.

Editing

The film starts with this montage of archival footage of 80’s British culture set to ’54 To 46 That’s My Number’ by Toots and the Maytals. It sets the tone of the film well, editing various clips from children’s shows and news footage together to give the audience a feeling of the space the film is set in, showing clips of people at school, music performances, dance exercise videos, Princess Diana etc. What really stood out to me was the short beats at some points in the song being overset by footage of disasters, usually explosion. These parts stood out to me because I liked how the footage synced up to the audio and because I found it funny.

Mise En Scene

This screenshot is taken from the final sequence of the film, where the members of Combo’s gang meet at his apartment for a sort of party, to which Milky also comes. This uses Mise En Scene to show the state at which Combo lives in: a totally empty floor, a sofa and bed pressed against the wall, some pictures stuck to the wall, and a large St. George’s cross flag that Shaun stole across the wall. This tells the audience that Combo is really in a bad economic state and is fairly alone in life.

Cinematography

This shot uses a long shot to show off all the characters and the urban setting. Woody is on one side of the tunnel, the rest of his gang on the other, and Shaun is in the middle, illuminated by the sun before entering the tunnel. The shot has some really nice symmetry that makes it pleasing to look at, and also some potential symbolism, like Shaun being illuminated by sunlight while the skinheads are in shade under the tunnel, showing Shaun’s innocence compared to the harder, rougher lives of the skinheads.

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.

Initial score: 4.5/10

Shane Meadows, 27/04/07 (release date)

In my opinion, the film wasn’t that great and the only reason I’m giving it a 4.5 and not a 4 is because the dialogue alone was hilarious – intentional or not. I enjoyed the news clips and montages which indicated the time period, such as clips of Princess Diana’s wedding. I didn’t enjoy the score because it didn’t blend well with the scenes, making it hard to take anything seriously.

My favourite sequence in the film is when Shaun first goes into the corner shop, Sandhu’s News, and is reading through a comic book which he hasn’t purchased yet, obviously the shopkeeper doesn’t like this so he asks Shaun repeatedly to leave, which leads up to the funniest piece of dialogue in this film. “Cola Cubes.” And again. “Cola Cubes.” The delivery from Thomas Turgoose adds to the comedic feel of this sequence.

Critical score: 9.1/10

I think this is the best film we have watched so far, as it does doesn’t do much wrong. In my personal opinion, the shots of the group walking towards the camera, though essential to show how Shaun’s friends are changing, are somewhat corny and for me don’t fit into the overall tone of the film. However, pretty much everything else is executed to a very high standard. There isn’t a bad performance by the cast, and the performance of Stephen Graham as the psychopathic Combo is certainly a memorable one for myself and most likely the audience as well. The use of montage to set the time period is extremely captivating and well executed, and the Tarantino style ‘Jukebox’ soundtrack is not only very well chosen, but pushes forward the emotional impact of certain scenes very well, such as the scene in which Combo nearly kills Milky. An overall extremely enjoyable experience and a very well made film.

Memorable Scene

The most memorable scene for me has got to be when Combo kills Milky, as for me it finally confirmed his psychotic and unstable nature and disgusting attitudes towards other fellow human beings. The intimate close up on Combo’s shows how he goes from cheerful and talking to Milky about his family and how he could come round for dinner, to berating Milky with racial insults and then beating him to the brink of death. The moment that really sticks out for me is when he gets Shaun to help him haul Milky’s beaten body out of the room and he’s telling to not cry and be ‘a real man’, which just confirms to me his lack of empathy and most likely his lack of education.

Rating Scale – 8

I really enjoyed this movie as you had to really listen to what was being said and what was happening. I enjoyed seeing all the camera work and dialogue even though there wasn’t much cinematography, it was a great movie. This is England is an extremely grotty and wretched movie. this is a lot of violence and blood and as I’ve said before I don’t condone any of those as it is disgusting but other than that I was entertained by this movie.

My most memorable moment was when Shaun threw the England flag into the sea. I believe that this was a detrimental scene that finished off the movie. After all that happened, all of the events that lead up to Milky’s almost death after he was beaten up by Combo. You could see that anger on Shaun’s face as he walked down. It was a moment of realisation.