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Title: A Descent Into Violence
Review: A very earnest look at the skinhead culture of 1980's England, This is England is a well acted and for the most part well written film. A young boy living with his recently widowed Mom is befriended by a group of fairly benign older kids who are marginally into the skinhead scene. There is an actual warmth about the way they take the younger kid in and get him the clothes and the haircut that helps him fit in. They seem like a likable enough and relatively harmless bunch guilty of nothing more than some vandalism.The film takes a decidedly ugly turn when a former neighborhood leader returns from prison and the group splits into 2. From that point on the inevitable descent from racist posturing to actual violence is quick and brutally depicted.A very well done film on many levels and the actors, none of whom I had seen before , are uniformly believable and realistic.
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