The one movie Taika Waititi “absolutely adores”
After delivering several New Zealand independent movies such as Boy, What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Taika Waititi was afforded the opportunity to handle some blockbuster Marvel movies in the form of Thor: Ragnarok and its sequel Thor: Love and Thunder.
But like any great director worth their salt, Waititi is also a big fan of cinema himself, and when he visited the JM Video store in Paris, he picked out several of his favourite movies, including The Graduate and many Martin Scorsese movies. But one of the most interesting films among Waititi’s favourites is a true British masterpiece.
“This is England. Bam! Yes!” Waititi passionately stated in the video store. “I just absolutely adored this film.” The movie is Shane Meadows’ 2006 British drama, which tells of a group of young skinheads in the early 1980s, detailing the second wave of the subculture and how it became tied in with the far-right white nationalist movement.
Skinheads had originally come through with an appreciation for the culture of 1960s West Indies, particularly the ska, soul and reggae genres. But by the time the 1980s came around, skinheads began to take on the ideals of white supremacy, blaming the problems of the decade in Britain on non-white races.
This is England is a truly phenomenal film, dripping in the reality we have come to expect of Meadows, with excellent performances by the likes of Stephen Graham, Andrew Shim, Vicky McClure, Joe Gilgun and Rosamund Hanson. It’s a harrowing watch, to say the least, and sticks with you long after the credits roll.
The reason for Meadows’ film’s brilliance, in the eyes of Waititi, all comes down to the performance of Thomas Turgoose. “The only reason this film is so good – what it is – is because of this kid right here,” Waititi said. This is England was the first-ever performance of Turgoose and arguably remains his best.
Turgoose had been cast in Meadows film through a chance meeting with the director and the casting agent Des Hamilton. He once explained: “Shane Meadows and Des Hamilton were casting up and down the country for kids who’d never acted before, who had no interest in acting. They just wanted raw, kind of real kids.”
And that’s precisely what Turgoose was, a real raw kid who imbued a sense of believability into his character, Shaun, a young lad who gets wrapped up in the 1980s skinhead culture. The actor is certainly the star of the film, especially considering it was his first acting appearance, and he looks to be the reason Taika Waititi “adores” it.
