Britain, 1983. Thatcher was at war, miners were on strike, skin-heads ran riot and Boy George was on the radio. The conservatives had control yet for some, it wasn’t enough to kick Argentina out of the Falklands. There were plenty at home that needed a good kicking too – anyone who wasn’t white had to be taught British values. Enter Combo. Fresh from prison, the National Front evangelist sets about re-educating former friends, particularly Milky, a Jamaican in Woody’s gang.

Before the inevitable tragedy, Meadow’s electrifying drama starts on Shaun’s last day of school. The tough 12 year old has been bullied once too often the afternoon he meets Woody, an amiable, older skin-head. Shaun responds to the offer of friendship, and to the male role models (his father was killed in the Falklands), He cuts his hair, buys some boots and a Ben Sherman shirt. Then Combo.

Meadows paints a hostile snapshot of a volatile world in a completely disarming way. With one significant exception, he drops expectation to remind us that yesterday’s yobs are today’s Dads. Woody’s mates embrace the period – skin, punk, ska, new romance – but leaves violence to a vocal few. Their’s is a social phenomena, not a political one. That behaviour is so easily subverted, reflected in Shaun’s hero-worship, opens a provocative dialogue on the dangers of violent, racially based ideology.

Meadows’ impressive command of improvisation and non-professional actors echoes Mike Leigh, Ken Loach and Michael Winterbottom, a class he has joined. This Is England is an exhilarating feature that stirs debate about the past as much as it does the present; a heady lesson in vigilance against rhetoric dressed as principle. What’s more, it's a film that leaves you gasping.

// COLIN FRASER