Monday, October 01, 2007

This is England (2006)

Director:

Writer:
Shane Meadows
Release Date: 27 April 2007 (UK)
Some say that this is a skinhead film whatever that means...and reading some of these "skinhead theory" reviews I was obviously expecting raw violence, spilled blood etc. etc.
But this is actually a film about growing up in England when your father is dead in a war overseas that you cannot understand, about confused rebellious and frustrated young people, a weird combination of skinheads and hippies, people that don`t know what to believe in...it`s a film about truly living the words "who the f*** knows?".
But most of all, it`s the honest, moving story of a kid that goes through all these problems because he lives in England and...this IS England.
What I really liked is that you can feel that the story is told by someone who went through all that and I was not surprised to find out that the film is inspired from the director`s actual life.
It has the feeling of a story told in a circle of friends but still has the power to ask important questions and that is quite rare in films these days.
I definitely recommend this film.

2 comments:

fredi said...

I saw this movie recently in one of Berlin's secret beautiful places, some fabriketage or so with just a beamer, some plastic chairs and pretzel sticks.

I also liked it very much, it's very immediate. The storytelling functions unobtrusively, there is little feeling of artificial plot turns. My own expectations were turned around in this respect; at the beginning I was watching out for the bad guys... but this film is very good at disproving abstract badness. And there's no fear of violence in the characters because violence is part of (everyday) life, and there's just other things to worry about. I suppose that's special about this movie, usually violence is either omitted completely (in good civilised movies) or a topic in itself without persons behind it.
("Auf der anderen Seite" I also like for that.)

Lucian said...

I like this one too. 'Immediate' is a great way to describe it. I like the idea of violence as a difference in quantity. I always find it difficult to bring to screen 'alternative' living and I'm happy this one turns out so well.