This is Brilliant
- This Is England review by Kurtz
Wonderful stuff- passionate,tender, fierce, reflective- Meadows hits the jackpot here with a searing account of a child searching for a father figure in the darker regions of Britain's underclass. The "me" decade of the eighties is brilliantly conjured up, and the fate of those who clearly weren't "one of us" smacks you between the eyes. You can feel the intensity of the director's vision and the commitment he gets from his young cast is amazing. Occasional rough edges in the dialogue and acting only add to the impact- you're not experiencing events and emotions through layers of Hollywood polish; this is England-this is REAL.
6 out of 7 members found this review helpful.
Enjoyable and thought provoking
- This Is England review by CP Customer
This film will make you laugh, cry and gasp no matter how desensitiesed you consider yourself to be. It does this through making the characters and the plot so lifelike and believable that you are drawn into that summer of 1983 in Preston. The portrayal of the characters beutifully explains why they behave the way they do and how they shape and influence each other.
Excellent perfermences all round, it would be a terrible shame to miss.
5 out of 6 members found this review helpful.
Bleak
- This Is England review by CP Customer
Understandable that this film has won awards - brilliant acting from especially Shaun, but certainly no light entertainment here. People who tend to be easily offended shouldn't probably watch - you are not spared any swearwords, however, the 18 certificate seems exaggerated, but maybe you need to be 18 to hear abuse like this in the UK? Unless you just happen to walk the street!
4 out of 5 members found this review helpful.
UK Classic.
- This Is England review by Steve
Harrowing social realism about a bullied teenage boy who finds a family among the skinheads of the No Future generation of the first Thatcher government, which offers him an identity he can't find in his council home from his single mother.
This England is bleak, but with a sense of humour. The child is played by Thomas Turgoose who was not an actor, but is well cast... if inevitably raw. He is in need of a role model after his father dies in the Falklands war.
And that leads him into the politicised delinquents who attach themselves to working class discontent; badly educated, poor, distorted by prison, exploited by the far right. Which makes it disturbingly relevant to the present time.
A well chosen ensemble cast brings life to Shane Meadows' deeply felt, personal story, which conveys an authentic vision of a time and a place and accomplishes what only the best films can ever do; it feels utterly real.
*There is authentic racist language and violence.
3 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
A gem!
- This Is England review by TB
Can’t really add anymore to what’s already been said in other reviews. I laughed, I cried, I sat there in shock and I felt uncomfortable. A real classic!!
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.