This is England

Somewhat predictable but still quite moving portrait of a young boy (heartbreakingly played by Thomas Turgoose, age 12 going on 45) who lives in a run down coastal town in England in 1983. He lives with his widowed mother and is bullied in school. He is taken under the wing of some working-class skinheads and made to feel welcome in their gang of misfits and outcasts. The balance is upset when an older and more militant member of their gang returns from 3 years in jail. Shawn is forced to choose who he will follow.

Part coming of age, part period piece (with great, grainy montages of what was happening in England in the early 80s) and part devastatingly realistic story that was, not surprisingly, based on the actual life of director Shane Meadows.