This Is England

This Is England
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Shane Meadows
Produced by	Mark Herbert
Written by	Shane Meadows Paddy Considine (uncredited)
Starring	Thomas Turgoose Stephen Graham Jo Hartley Andrew Shim Vicky McClure Joseph Gilgun Rosamund Hanson
Music by	Ludovico Einaudi
Cinematography	Danny Cohen
Edited by	Chris Wyatt
Production company	Warp Films FilmFour Productions
Distributed by	Optimum Releasing
Release date	12 September 2006 (2006-09-12) (TIFF) 27 April 2007 (2007-04-27) (United Kingdom)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£1.5 million
Box office	£5 million

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 Indies culture, especially ska, soul, and reggae music, became adopted by the far-right, especially white nationalists and white supremacists, 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.

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 Michelle, also known as 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.

Shaun finds a mentor figure in Combo, who in turn is impressed by and identifies with Shaun. Shaun goes with Combo's group to a white nationalist meeting. After Pukey expresses doubt over their racist and nationalistic politics, Combo throws him out of his group and sends him back to Woody. The gang then engages in bigoted antagonism of, among others, shopkeeper Mr. Sandhu, an Indian shopkeeper who had previously banned Shaun from his shop.