This is England

British writer-director Shane Meadows (Dead Man's Shoes) would have made the late filmmaker Alan Clarke proud with this must-see, partly autobiographical dramedy about working-class skinheads, circa 1983. Thankfully not another one-dimensional vilification of boot-stomping neo-Nazis with ugliness coursing through their veins, This is England depicts a sensitive, whip-smart, and richly detailed portrait of the subculture from its heartbreakingly humble roots.

Set in a bleak coastal town, the film's point of view comes from a fatherless 12-year-old scrapper named Shaun (newcomer Thomas Turgoose, his maturity exuding witty charisma), whose days of being bullied end when he's taken in by Woody (Joseph Gilgun) and his family of skinheads. They wear Ben Sherman shirts, suspenders, and Doc Martens. They smoke fags and travel in packs, but their solidarity is one of peace, love, and understanding — even when they're demolishing sinks in abandoned tenement buildings for fun. Yet the carefree times hit the wall when Woody's old friend is released from a three-year prison sentence and divides the group by bringing his knee-jerk racism into the fray. Played by Stephen Graham with tightly-wound menace that transparently masks his insecurity, Combo closer resembles the hatemongers of American History X or Romper Stomper, though Meadows subtly shows that this isn't about heroes and villains, but those who can roll with the punches versus those who can't and must project their class frustrations via nationalist closed-mindedness and violence. Even the film's fantastic soundtrack illustrates these two sides of the same shaved scalp, as the first half is a happy-go-lucky dance to ska and reggae (hey, Toots & the Maytals!), but after Shaun gets caught up in the darker side, punk and Oi! music becomes all the, well... rage.

— Aaron Hillis