Summer of 1983, an anonymous English town, marked by unemployment and lack of any social welfare, on the background the Falkland war: here, Shaun, a boy belonging to the working class, his father dead in that same war, always laughed at by his mates, one day meets a group of skinheads, who welcome him and become a sort of surrogate family for him. Things are at the beginning positive for the boy, until Combo, an ex member released from prison, arrives, leading what was a group of alternative but good boys, to encounter racist and violent attitudes and obliging everyone, Shaun included, to make a choice.
What stands out in the movie is the capability to render the deep needs stirring inside the young boy, a need for strength, for something and someone to identify with, with all the complexities and difficulties proper of the age, and worsened by a troubled social context. The boy interpreting Shaun offers a very intense and strong performance, we cannot but have tender feelings for him, we feel how difficult it is to grow up, and still there's innocence in his eyes and there's the beauty of growing up believing in something. In general, all the characters are well rounded, credible and well interpreted. The director has done a great job in capturing the mood, the look and the music of those years, and criticism of the evils of the period is softened by the need for some final hope. It's certainly a committed movie, focusing on a specific moment of British history, but able to cross the boundary of a British audience.
What stands out in the movie is the capability to render the deep needs stirring inside the young boy, a need for strength, for something and someone to identify with, with all the complexities and difficulties proper of the age, and worsened by a troubled social context. The boy interpreting Shaun offers a very intense and strong performance, we cannot but have tender feelings for him, we feel how difficult it is to grow up, and still there's innocence in his eyes and there's the beauty of growing up believing in something. In general, all the characters are well rounded, credible and well interpreted. The director has done a great job in capturing the mood, the look and the music of those years, and criticism of the evils of the period is softened by the need for some final hope. It's certainly a committed movie, focusing on a specific moment of British history, but able to cross the boundary of a British audience.