I have a small hatred towards indie movies. And that hatred is usually at the small budget. The small budget seems to make the movie seems like it wasn’t worked on enough or was half done. But not this time. My hatred towards indie films ended once I saw This Is England.

Directed by Shane Meadows, This Is England tells the story of a kid named Shaun, who is bullied at school constantly. Shaun meets a group of skinheads (the film takes place in the 80’s), and being the naive person he is, joins them in their fight towards, essentially, hating on immigrants. Although Shaun thinks he’s made the right choice, he soon learns what’s right and wrong.

My indie film hatred ended with this film, because it proved a big budget isn’t, well, at all needed to make a good film. The indie films I remember myself seeing were pieces of abstract shit, but this one seemed to make sense, and was literal and down to earth. Although the film is quite depressing and gloomy, there’s a bit of humor thrown in there to cheer things up once in a while. The only thing I wish was that the film was longer. It was a bit short at only an hour and thirty minutes, but I was content. The movie’s a bit predictable, but not too predictable as to ruin the story.

This Is England definitely goes on my list of favorite movies. Shane Meadows directed brilliantly, Thomas Turgoose was incredibly convincing as Shaun, and Stephen Graham played the furious and overly proud Combo, who learns that other nationalities and races aren’t so bad.