Shane Meadows' This Is England (2006/2007) is a timely film, given its take on anti-immigrant skinheads in England after the Falklands War of 1982. (One of the younger member's father's was killed during the war). It shows a split into an apolitcal faction and a white nationalist faction that becomes increasingly violent, especially against West Indians and "Pakis."
In the US, white nationalist pseudo-Protestant skinheads (and there are some of them in all parts of the country) aim their hatred less at Pakistanis than at Arabs, blacks, Latinos, Hispanics, Catholics, Jews, East Asians and homosexuals.
This Is England looks at skinheads as human beings rather than cartoons, which makes it all the more interesting and hence, in some ways, all the more sobering.
Today's Rune: Initiation. Another good one: Julien Temple's Sex Pistols: There'll Always Be an England (Live from Brixton Academy) (2008). RIP, William Safire. And three cheers to the Detroit Lions for winning a game!
5 comments:
These movements are just fascinating to me. Scary but fascinating.
Erik, maybe if I understand skinheads better, they won't seem so ignorant. Yay for the Lions!!!
Wasn't England at the forefront of the punk music scene? Didn't it peak around that time?
Also, there was a lot of losses to heavy industry then?
Thanks all for the comments!
Charles & Jodi, agreed. Nunya, yes, yes and yes. Punk splintered into factions, ranging from nihilists, anarchists, skinheads, post-punkers, and nondefinables, I suppose.
Thanks for the recommendation, Erik. This one's available for instant viewing on Netflix.
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