Thanks to a resent switch from Blockbuster Online to Netflix, I was recently able to stream This Is England, a dark drama about a young boy growing up in 1980s England. Shaun, the protagonist, after the loss of his father, finds himself searching for acceptance in a world that seems to be cruel and unfair. This isolation allows him to become brainwashed by a gang of young skinheads, ultimately ending in a brutal beating of one of his friends. The cinematographic work was impeccable and truly captured Shaun’s cries for acceptance and companionship.

Overall, this film was magnificent and deserves both my 5-star rating and the particularly high IMDB rating of 8.0. I was drawn to the characters (most notably Shaun) and was really able to see how someone looking for acceptance could be sucked into a world of violence and hate.

It’s not a light film, but one worth watching.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 3:37 pm and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.