Pretty Good

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

It's fine in a general sense, it recognises the sort of background skins came from. But we didn't love and hug, our only male bonding was fighting together and seeing who would stand with us. Our crew did actually have a black lad who joined us as we went Pakky bashing. Recreational time was spent getting drunk in the pub, where there might be a gig on, the night would end with a scrap with a crew from another part of town. Come Saturday both crews and others would have a drink together, then head to the football game to face off the opposing teams mob. We loved violence not each other, our only bond was to those who fought best. Most came from broken homes, not the heroic fallen soldier father this film presents. Just bog standard divorce or unknown. We were testosterone and alcohol fuelled angry young men filled with anger, violence was our release. The politics was secondary, we hated everyone, but had a clear view of who wasn't ours.

England, 1983. 12-year old Shaun is aimless and bored. Into this void steps a bunch of young people who make Shaun feel like he belongs. They happen to be skinheads and are possibly not the best influence on Shaun...Great movie. Powerful examination on neo-Nazi, bigoted, skinhead culture in the UK in the early 1980s. The story is a metaphor for disaffected youth everywhere, and the evils of racism disguised as patriotism.Solid performances all round. Stephen Graham is great as the skinhead leader. Thomas Turgoose puts in a particularly good performance for a 13/14-year old.

This Is England sends a strong message. Whether you view it as being anti-fascist or promoting racist and anti-social violent behavior, you can't underestimate the power this film packs. It's an awesomely raw view on the skinhead epidemic that plagued England in the 70's and 80's. It has some very gripping moments, with slightly not so gripping moments, but pass the hour mark and this film really kicks into gear. A great film that studies not only the Neo-Nazi movement, but also characterizes the change of people in it. The two opposing gangs are so polar that you can feel the full motives of both groups. An excellent, but not perfect, British film that has it all for everyone.

This is England is a hard-hitting look at an outsider's youth, and what comfort comes when there are others around - however it may be a brutal sort of 'others' as here. I liked Meadows' unflinching camera, his use of close-ups on faces, the ska music (unexpected that, I thought it'd be skin-head punk rock but only UK Subs shows up), and the performance by newcomer Thomas Turgoose, and Stephen Graham, who seems to be in every British film right now.I wondered why the film just ended the way it did, where it seemed like there was more story to tell, or at least a resolution to go after (and subsequently I learned Meadows did TV spin-off since the film's release with many of the same characters - which is fine, though as a film in and of itself it feels incomplete somehow, even with a predictable ending of a flag thrown in a river).All the same, it's riveting, raw, personal cinema that can resonate with any youngster that's ever felt they didn't 'fit in' - or that they found a place to fit in, whatever the circumstances.