This Is England

[picaraza]

I was listening to the Maytals earlier today and "Pressure Drop" has been echoing through my mind ever since.

So I was reminded of a scene in a movie called "This is England" in which a young kid is singing along with Toots in front of the bathroom mirror. It's throughly charming and I'll never forget it.

Has anyone seen this film? Its about the skinhead/ska scene in England with the Falklands War and the NF as backdrops.

http://www.thisisenglandmovie.co.uk//#/home/

I saw it about a month or two back on DVD and thought it was terrific. Some really good performances from some young actors recruited from acting workshops. The performances throughout are terrific and the soundtrack is terrific. Not just ska, two-tone, but other gems as well. Like Percy Sledge's "Dark End of the Street"

Worth seeking out.

[ton1]

Actually, it's a movie about taking place after second ska wave (two tone), not the very first skinhead era. Second one, with a very interesting point of view on how some people stayed antiracist and others went to the wrong way of National Front party.
Interesting because few people know the origins of skinheads and also because even if they know, this is always presented as antiracist against racist in a very manicheist way of thinking and this movie shows how thin is the line and how some of them have crossed that line between antiracist and antifascit fight and those who joined white power bands.

Not an easy movie to make, not an easy end being chosen, very good actors and scenario and an excellent result. Basically, I loved it, added to that it mix the 3 kinds of music I love : reggae/ska/rocksteady, punk/oï and two tone ska.

[chromatic]

I really enjoyed the music and the costumes - and just the general atmosphere of Britain at the time, particularly the intro montage - and also because hopefully it'll dispel people's idea (I used to be one of them) that skinhead=neonazi, end of story. But I was disappointed by the final scene, which I thought suddenly became quite cliched and tearjerky in a way which was out of character with the rest of the film (and incidentally, I wished they would've used The Smiths' original 'Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want' and not a cover...) overall, though I enjoyed it a lot and definitely found it a thought-provoking experience.

[selecta bing]

Yes, I thought it could have done with more NITEKLUB scenes
(and music) to show how big the 2 TONE/Skins thing was. (budget?)
It seemed a bit limited by just focusing on that one group of individuals and the ending, as Chromatic stated, was overkill.
The little guy should have (and probably would have )just chucked the flag in a bin.

[bullit]

Chromatic summed up this movie for me, a "thought-provoking experience" I enjoyed this movie and it was made very well, acting was good throughout. I wondered if it didnt give the impression that skinheads were worse then they are however i think it gave both sides quite good representation