Sheffield. 1983. Shaun has been having a tough time of it. He's been forced to wear flares to school and he's got no end of grief for it from Harvey the school bully. When he spoke back, his dead father was made fun of and that's when slaps started being thrown. A slow sad walk home turns into a fateful encounter as Shaun meets the people he's going to be friends with for the rest of his life.
A perfect scene and a perfect introduction to the wonderful group dynamic that persisted throughout the film and into the TV miniseries that followed. Shaun a troubled young man taken under the wing of Woody aka the soundest person on Earth. The brilliantly evocative clothing worn by Woody & Pukey (A very young Jack O'Connell) reminding us that youth subcultures and fashion used to be a thing before everyone turned into skinny tracksuit wearing automatons. The feeling of teenage boredom we all remember so well from the 80's and 90's is expertly summed up by the gang sitting under the bridge with nothing to do but wait. And of course we see in Shaun's smile the joy of finding a place where he finally feels like him belongs and we get to witness the start of a beatuiful and troubled friendship.
The scene itself encapsulates the film. Sadness followed by a brief burst of happiness before everything turns to shit. Milky the black teenager who considered himself a skin in that innocent time before a shaved head became a symbol of the far right. The moment you see him sitting there you know something bad is coming and sadly but inevitably it does.
By the way Gadget turns out to be one of the nicest characters in the entire series. He just takes a while to get there. He's just one of a wealth of fantastically drawn characters, all of them full of shades of grey. If you haven't seen this film and the following series yet I implore you to check it out. It's amazing, upsetting, life affirming stuff that will stick with you forever.
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