SSC Film Studies

Shocking cinema – This is England

Throughout the first half of this is England; the audience is led to align with the group off young skinheads. Half way through the film a new character in combo comes into the film and there is a scene in were combo creates a division in the group and splits the film into two sections, The scene is set in Combos apartment and has the whole group in. Combo comes out with a his opinions about immigration etc. and he splits the group into two, He use’s strong racist language and in the presence of a black person which creates tension throughout the group as nobody has stood up for him during this onslaught, visually the scene is shocking as the camera positions combo as a superior figure to the rest of the group who are all slouched on the floor. It can be considered shocking as some of the things that are being said aren’t what people expect to hear from a film, and the fact that, despite the speech being incredibly racist and full of foul language, some people can start to believe what he is saying is true and therefore