This Is England Close-Up ("Final Montage" Sequence)
01:31:58-01:34:20.
This bookends the montage at the beginning of the film, consisting of newsreel footage from the 1980s; however, this montage focusses exclusively on the Falklands War.
The montage opens with the Union Jack being raised above the capital of the Falklands, symbolising the reassertion of British control over the islands. However, the surroundings seem bleak and underdeveloped, making the victory seem small and unnessecary. Meadows doesn’t covey the war as a glorious British victory.
When Combo tries to recruit the others, he makes a speech about the Falklands War which causes Shaun to hit him: he deplores the hopeless political situation in the UK at the time, where British men were sent half way across the world to fight shepherds for no real benefit to anyone. The political decisions by those at the top were pushing people towards extremist groups. The clips of the victory at the Falklands are accompanied by the same mournful composed score that has been used throughout the film to indicate tragic moments Meadows doesn’t agree with.
The parade through the street is of a rag-tag group of men, not the grandeur typically associated with such events. The lack of discipline and restraint of the soldiers, that is supposed to be instilled in the army, is shown by the soldiers sharing a bottle of vodka.
The British army are in soldiers’ uniforms, while the POWs they round up are in civilian clothing, frightened and defeated.
The reality of war is shown towards the end of the montage where the corpses are wrapped up and carried on splints and the surroundings are full of death, guns, and destruction.
Though the emotions shown are real, the shots of the returning soldiers meeting their families seem contrived, as though to replicate the famous images of the end of WWII.
The montage ends with Shaun holding the photo of his dead father; while many soldiers were able to return home, many weren’t. This makes the reunion scenes all the more poignant.