This Is England

This Is England is a 2006 British drama film written and directed by Shane Meadows. The story centres on young skinheads in England in 1983. The film illustrates how their subculture, which has its roots in 1960s West Indian culture, especially ska, soul, and reggae music, became adopted by white nationalists, which led to divisions within the skinhead scene. The film's title is a direct reference to a scene where the character Combo explains his nationalist views using the phrase "this is England" during his speech.

Plot

In 1983, 12-year-old Shaun gets into a fight at school with a boy named Harvey after he makes an offensive joke about his father, who died in the Falklands War. On his way home, Shaun comes across a gang of young skinheads led by Woody, who feels sympathy for Shaun and invites him to join the group. They accept Shaun as a member, and he finds a big brother in Woody, while developing a romance with Smell, an older girl who dresses in a new wave style.

Combo, an older skinhead, returns to the group after a prison sentence, accompanied by a knife-wielding moustachioed man called Banjo. A charismatic but unstable individual with sociopathic tendencies, Combo expresses English nationalist and racist views, and attempts to enforce his leadership over the other skinheads. This leads the group to split, with young Shaun, the belligerent Pukey, and Gadget, who feels bullied by Woody for his weight, choosing Combo over Woody's apolitical gang.

This Is England (series)

Installments

Recurring cast

This Is England (song)

"This Is England" is a song by English punk rock band The Clash, released in September 1985 as the only international single from their sixth, final, and critically maligned studio album Cut the Crap. It was the final release while the group were still together, in their final incarnation of Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon, Nick Sheppard, Pete Howard and Vince White.

Personnel

Lyrics and meaning

Written in late 1983, the song is about the state of England at the time.

The song comprises a list of the problems in England during the early years of the Thatcher administration, addressing inner-city violence, urban alienation, life on council estates, high unemployment rate, England's dying motorcycle industry, racism, nationalism, and police corruption—as well as two very common subject matters for mid-1980s left-wing songwriters: the Falklands War; and the consumerist, subservient mind-set of many English people at the time.