After having watched "This is England '86", I decided to relive "This is England" yet again (Yes, in my humble opinion,
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beherenow3 — 14 years ago(October 12, 2011 11:22 PM)
- Banjo may have been trying to protect Shaun, in all likelihood, by not letting him help Milky.
- I thought Banjo said something like "I want out of this" (working class English accent usually drops the "t" in "out", and possibly the "f" in "of", hence can sound quite different to what we're used to.
- Just because Banjo is a National Front supporter does not mean he is in any way pro senseless violence.
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XNSuper — 14 years ago(May 24, 2011 03:42 AM)
"Firstly, I'd like to hear what you think about Milky's attack. Do you reckon Combo went out to look for Milky with the intention to assault him later on? Was this in a pact with Banjo? Or maybe, he's made that decision on his own? Others will probably see it as an accident on the spur of the moment, purely provoked by overall anger, jealousy, weed,"
Hatred and pure anger. If you watch the sence, and the way they are set up. combo expresses his love to Lol and she denies him, hard. the next scene with combo it seems to show that he is actually waiting for Milky. You can already tell he is up to something. I think that it was his overall hatred,and his personal frustrations. To put ontop of that Milky is talking about how good his family is, how his grandmother cooks, how his uncle has 7 kids but is there for all of them.So that set Combo off.
Also i read somewhere on here that Combo said something about being part black and his father was never there thats why he started the whole "good dad" speech - Im not sure bout that thoughsomethings i coulndt really understand with their accents as i am American.
one more thingweed doesnt make anyone violentin fact it would make you the exact opposite -
aqua1a — 11 years ago(July 31, 2014 05:16 AM)
I just saw this tonight and it's not 100% clear but the impression I got was that when Combo was rejected by Lol, and in such a definite way, he was really hurting a lot. I think that made him want to lash out, and share his pain, but also to feel in control again. I think he was searching out for Milky with the intention of messing with him.
When it all started to go bad, I think it was a mix of hearing what a better life this kid had had, and how partly he was hearing a story about immigrants that didn't demonize them, and that made him angry for not having that family, but also angry at being soft with Milky.
I thought that scene was tremendous acting by Stephen Graham. I felt like as his eyes were filling up with tears he was going from melancholy to sad and finally from guilt to rage. I believe the reason Milky smiled is because he was incredibly hurt by hearing someone he thought was a friend reveal such hatred towards him. And quickly that turned into this realization that everyone was right all along, Combo was bad news, he really couldn't change. And I felt like Milky's smile was saying.. "Wow you really are as blindly racist and ignorant as they said.. I can't believe you almost fooled me"
I think given how docile and friendly Combo had been up until that point Milky didn't realize how dangerous his defiant smile would be.
And the last part, the thing that teared me up suprisingly, was when he first kicked Sean out of the room, then the other 2. I think he felt like he was out of control and couldn't stop himself from doing terrible things. His first thought was to protect Sean.. from seeing his rage, but also from being a victim himself. He then couldn't help lashing out at the other men, but managed to also kick them out, to protect them I think.
I thought I heard him say something like "those 2 didn't do anything, get them away" or dont hurt them, or something like that. Almost like he wasn't sure he'd be able to stop himself from hurting anyone around him.
But his rage subsided and he finally saw what he had done. The fact that Sean waited and had the guts to come back in was so sad and intense. And I kept hoping Combo wouldn't lose it again and hurt Sean. But I was suprised, and glad, to see he took Milky to a hospital. To me that really showed he felt guilty and didn't mean to hurt him like he did.
Anyway I thought this was a great movie, I love Dead Man's Shoes and Romeo Brass and once again he got me. -
stephen_falken — 14 years ago(October 20, 2011 04:45 AM)
Seems to be a mixed bag about what Banjo's intentions were.
There is no doubt that he said he wanted to give Milky a beating, something along the lines of 'I want in on this we want our bit', suggesting that he was glad Combo had initiated the beating and now they could also have a piece.
As for Combo, I really believe he had good intentions when he brought Milky to the flat, and up until they started talking about families everything was going fine.
After Combo telling Milky what he thought made a bad father, Milky realised where all Combo's anger was originating - his own family life not being ideal like Milkys. This makes Milky smile and nod his head, a bit like saying 'Ahh, so thats what your problem is!'. Unfortunatly for Milky it was too late, the anger and jealousy had alrady enraged Combo and set him off beating Milky.
It is also immediatly apparent that Combo was deeply ashamed as soon as he finished the beating, thats why he smashed Banjo over the head when he suggested a further beating!
Regards
"Get busy livin' or Get busy dyin' - That's gad'damn right!" -
kazmi2000 — 14 years ago(November 19, 2011 05:05 AM)
Banjo definitely wanted to beat Milky up. When Shaun is pushed out of the room after Milky is attacked Either Banjo or the fat bloke says to Combo (something along the lines of ) "We were worried, we've sat here and listened to this all day" They were obviously worried that their leader had lost his beliefs by sucking up to Milky.
"Make Your Own beep Tea!" -
keshav7732 — 14 years ago(December 22, 2011 05:41 AM)
Regarding the Attack:
Combo was already irritated & severely depressed that day due to Lol's rejection of his love advances in the car.
He then decides to kill the day off by just having a sort of session. So he asks Milky for some weed. They then get blazed at some house - And when most of the people leave only Shaun, Banjo, Combo, Milky & One Fat Guy is left.
Combo is initially in a tranquil mood. But when Milky starts talking about his 'None British Jamaican' Family - And how nice and warm his family life is. Combo quickly get's embittered and jealous of how easy his life has been, due to the fact that he has had an awful one.
He is clearly agitated by his body language - And he says 'Looks like your all sorted then'. He things proceeds to racially abusing him & calling him a beep & a 'Coon'.
Milky of course being intoxicated & also confused at this sudden mood change in Combo presumably in my opinion thinks he is just pulling his leg or having a laugh. But Milky Grinning at Combo agitates him even further & puts him in a blind range of fury constantly hitting him & punching him over the head and face whilst shouting racial abuse at him.
Shaun begins crying prof-usably whereas the other guys are laughing holding Shaun Down (The Guys thought Combo was just joking around and not really hitting him).
Because Shaun keeps crying Combo kicks him out of the room. Which is when Banjo and the other guy realise that this is in fact not a joke but he has actually beaten up Milky pretty bad & he is bleeding badly.
The fat guy says 'We thought you were pulling our leg' - And Banjo Says 'You Have gone too far Combo we have been with you - But now we want out of this'. This enrages Combo further and he unleashes fist blows on Banjo and smashes a glass over his head.
Eventually Combo realises what he has done and starts sobbing - Making Shaun help him take him to the hospital. -
keshav7732 — 14 years ago(December 22, 2011 11:33 AM)
Aah right. Thanks for clearing it up.
One thing which confuses me then. How come in This is England 86 (TV Sequel) Banjo is hanging around with Milky's Gang & has become friends with them?
Despite the fact that Banjo sat there laughing when Milky was getting the hell beaten out of him? Either Milky doesn't realise that Banjo was involved or even found it funny to an extent.
Or he is the most friendly bastard in the world & let 'bygones be bygones'. -
drakeyequation — 10 years ago(October 06, 2015 03:23 PM)
Shaun begins crying prof-usably whereas the other guys are laughing holding Shaun Down (The Guys thought Combo was just joking around and not really hitting him).
Because Shaun keeps crying Combo kicks him out of the room. Which is when Banjo and the other guy realise that this is in fact not a joke but he has actually beaten up Milky pretty bad & he is bleeding badly.
The fat guy says 'We thought you were pulling our leg' - And Banjo Says 'You Have gone too far Combo we have been with you - But now we want out of this'. This enrages Combo further and he unleashes fist blows on Banjo and smashes a glass over his head.
Wowwww Way to completely miss the point of that scene.
Banjo was holding Sean down because he was trying to stop Combo from kicking the crap out of Milky. Combo & his gang were Neo-Nazis. When they said
"We thought you were winding us up!"
they were talking about before the attack when Combo was bonding with Milky. They couldn't stand to think he was fraternizing with the enemy (a non-white). You even see Meggy (the one with the glasses) egging Combo on during the assault. Then they want to join in,
"We want our bit!"
and Combo turns on them because he's raging with inner-conflict and regret at what he's done. -
Reminisce_PartOne — 14 years ago(January 08, 2012 02:26 AM)
I was just thinking to myself whilst reading your post, that Combo probably thought something along the lines of -
"What the fuc- k so they're lettin' just anyone in now a n!gger here, a kid there"- when he first saw Woody and the old gang again after comin' out of the can (of course I'm quite sure the old gang were all new faces to him, except for Woody himself).
He must have felt very disheartened, shocked, confused amongst other things, to see a black guy and a little kid let into the gang which was perhaps once so much more exclusive. but just now I thought about how Woody and Milky were friends since kids, and also how Woody and Combo go back a fair bit odd then that Milky was a new face to Combo out of the can maybe before Combo went away Woody hid his friendship with Milky from Combo?
Anyway, I imagine that Combo felt like beatin' on Milky there and then, when he first saw him. Probably refrained from doing so because he was on parole maybe? Anyway, I dunno', maybe Combo and Banjo did make sort of a pact, probably whilst high or whilst drinking, a pact to do Milky over so to speak. Maybe when Combo sobered up he wasn't so into the idea and started to feel anxious about it, but then on getting high again at the end of the film
On the other hand, maybe there was no pact. I'm quite sure Combo, since we have first seen him, has always been an angry man, a confused man who struggles to make sense of the world and struggles to accept new people too. Especially in the film I think he was a man filled with rage. I think actually when I first watched the film, that my thought was that Combo was getting high with Milky in order to get to know him better, to maybe give him a chance, but he had a violent reaction with the weed and feelings of jealousy and resentment crept in when Milky spoke of his large, loving family, the culture and such. These are things that Combo hasn't really ever had the pleasure of knowing, a large family filled with love, the opportunity to sit round a table and eat a great national meal y'know. I think he pretty much had no immediate family, and that his closest to family was the likes of Banjo, Woody and Lol.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the celtic soul brothers and the strong devoted!"
- when he first saw Woody and the old gang again after comin' out of the can (of course I'm quite sure the old gang were all new faces to him, except for Woody himself).
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lisa-xo — 12 years ago(November 23, 2013 12:57 PM)
this may have been said before but i really don't feel like reading all of the replies right now (lol).
i agree that Combo is a complex character, but i don't think the attack was premeditated. i think Milky was probably the weed connection for the group and that is just always who their hook up is. i think the two bonded while smoking weed, getting high, talking, laughing, etc. i don't think that was an act on either character's part.
i think Banjo did say something like "i want in on that" and by that time, Combo has started to regret attacking Milky to near-death. so by Banjo saying that, he attacked him so Banjo couldn't attack Milky. -
sjrmanc — 10 years ago(September 22, 2015 06:48 AM)
Combo was hurting already, and think the attack on milky came, because milky who was black, had everything combo didn't, family, friends, good life ect and combo resented it. He had fell out with woody so couldn't ask him for weed ect, but milky was nave for going with him.
As for banjo, he just said wrong thing at the wrong time, and was in combo's line of fire after milky was down.