This Is England (Shane Meadows, 2006)

12-year-old Shaun is bullied at his school because he's small for his age, because he has the wrong kind of pants, and because he doesn't have a dad. One day, on the way back from being picked on, he encounters a group of young skinheads who take him in completely, like him for who he is, and, with his lack of father and hard-working mother, become his de facto family. The group, lead by Woody (Joe Gilgun, who is singularly great and very attractive), accept and come to love Shaun as well -- even though he looks like he's about six years old, soon, he's hanging out with them, drinking beer and making out with girls. Until Combo returns; Woody's old friend went to jail without snitching on him three years ago, but prison has changed him into a vicious, angry, racist guy. Shaun falls under the spell of his beliefs, and the group is divided in two, with devastating results. I honestly had to look up skinhead on wikipedia, because in popular culture, skinhead means nothing more than neo-Nazi now. But in 1983 England, when This is England takes place, it was a West Indian rude boy-inspired lifestyle and fashion style. In fact, one of the members of Woody's group, Milky, is Jamaican, a fact that leads him to be torn between his family and his lifestyle. Meadows' autobiographical movie portrays skinheads as more of a family culture than anything, but one that can and did go wrong with the wrong people. Combo and Woody's split is emblematic of a greater split in the culture as a whole. Shaun is swayed by Combo's political manipulation of the Faulkland War, where he lost his dad. Everyone in the film gives a great performance, especially Thomas Turgoose as Shaun, who made me tear up more than once with his loneliness, and then with his absolute elation at having found a family. Vicky McClure, as Woody's girlfriend Lol, the mother of the group, is also outstanding. I actually could go on about every performance in the movie; if there's one movie that should have been nominated for a best cast performance SAG award, this is it. This is a touching, political, real movie about what it's like to be lonely, and what it takes to solve your loneliness. Highly recommended. 8.5/10

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