Movie review score
5
After being bullied at school, 12-year-old Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) comes
across a small band of Skinheads lead by Woody (Joseph Gilgun), a
charismatic and benevolent teenager who befriends the boy immediately.
Bringing him into the fold as one of their own, Woody quickly initiates
Shaun as a Skinhead to the dismay of his widowed mother. Having lost his
father in the Falklands War, Shaun gleefully embraces his new found
friends (and look) until the group is split with the arrival of Combo
(Stephen Graham), an older, nationalist skinhead just released from
prison. Once friends, now bitter rivals, Combo and Woody divide the
group along political lines. Blaming England's economic woes, growing
unemployment and post-war grievances on the influx of foreign
minorities, Combo persuades Shaun and other members of the pack to make a
stand, preserving England for the English. After attending a meeting of
right-wing nationalists, Combo takes his new found gang of hooligans to
threaten the local Pakistani community. In his contempt for others,
Combo begins to reveal his own emotional battles with loss, loneliness
and isolation. When his romantic advances are later rebuffed by Woody's
girlfriend and former fling, Lol (Vicky McClure), Combo turns his hate,
envy and prejudicial rage against one member of the group to disastrous
effect... changing Shaun's viewpoint in an instant.
Source : imbd.com