2. Released: February 23rd, 1996
Director: Danny Boyle
Based on the book ‘Trainspotting’ by Irvine Welsh.
Danny Boyle’s cult film about junkies in mid-nineties Edinburgh
has a rather interesting history at the BBFC.
Plot: A wild, freeform, rebellious trip through the darkest recesses
of Edinburgh low-life, focusing on Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor)
and his attempt to give up his heroin habit, and how the latter
affects his relationship with family and friends: Sean Connery
wannabe Sick Boy, dimwit Spud, psycho Begbie, 14-year-old
girlfriend Diane, and clean-cut athlete Tommy, who's never
touched drugs but can't help being curious about them…
the film was passed at 18 and opened to huge critical acclaim.
Derek Malcolm of The Guardian called Trainspotting ‘an
extraordinary achievement and a breakthrough British film’ and
Empire magazine awarded it a maximum five stars. The film
enjoyed an extremely successful run at the cinema, occupying the
number one slot for a number of weeks, and the screenplay was
nominated for an Academy Award.

3. The film’s main classification issue is drug use and
there are several detailed scenes of heroin abuse
throughout the work. There are close-ups of heroin
being heated on a spoon and sucked into a syringe,
detail of the tying of tourniquets around arms in order
to raise veins for easier injection and, in the
strongest scene, an extreme close-up of a needle
puncturing the lead character’s skin. We also see
characters taking ecstasy and smoking marijuana.
Though drug-taking is Trainspotting’s most
contentious classification issue, the film’s language,
sex and violence also place it at 18. There are
several uses of strong language (‘f***’ and
‘motherf*****’) as well as nineteen uses of ‘c***’, a
word that BBFC Guidelines state should be only
infrequently used at 15. There are a couple of strong
sex scenes, with full-frontal nudity, implied fellatio
and some thrusting and an image of a dead baby
lying in its cot is as shocking now as it was when the
film was first released.

5. Released: April 27th 2007
Director: Shane Meadows
Plot: 12 year old Shaun lives with his widowed mother in a
small town in Britain. His father, an army officer, was one
of the Falkland casualties. A loner, he is befriended by
some older skinhead youth, who shave off his hair, date
an older young woman, and subsequently introduce him
to ex-convict Combo. Shaun unwittingly volunteers to be
part of Combo's gang, and is taken to a meeting hosted
by Britain's right-winged National Front, which openly
advocates ethnic cleansing; re-defines Racism as Reality;
and Nazism as Nationalism. Combo then takes his
followers on a spree of sword and knife-wielding terror,
looting a corner store run by Sandhu, all eventually get
stoned and violence ensues.

6. This is England was awarded an 18 certificate in 2007 for very strong
racist violence. The film also contains some aggressive uses of very
strong language. The use of the word 'c***' was exacerbated by its
combination with the highly offensive racist terms ‘w*g’, 'P**i',
'n****r' and 'c**n'.
The question of whether the work could be contained at the 15
category was carefully considered, given the potential appeal and
relevance to a younger audience. A number of scenes and elements
placed the work on the 15/18 borderline:
• The scene in which Combo verbally and physically threatens
an Asian shop keeper whose shop he and his gang have just robbed
and defiled. He calls the shop keeper a 'Paki cunt' and violently
swings a machete into the shop keeper’s face deliberately scaring
him. The threat is palpable and realistic, even though no blood is
shed
• The representation of racist ideology as attractive to the
child character Sean, and the artful ambiguous presentation of his
developing world view and the impact of racist views upon this
• Sight of Combo threatening some children, racially abusing
them and stroking a serrated knife along their cheeks.

7. The strongest scene however, which took the work to 18, was towards the end
of the film when a vulnerable character, Milky, is subjected to a brutal and
realistic racist attack. The attack shows Sean’s idol, Combo, start to punch and
pummel his mixed race friend Milky’s face, kicking and stamping on it. Some of
this is shown from Milky's perspective and has a particularly visceral edge,
despite the lack of blood or gory detail. It is realistic, intense and shocking with
sudden tension as the scene changes from a drinking and smoking session to a
verbal diatribe and possibly lethal beating.
The key factors which therefore placed This is England at 18, rather than 15
are:
• The violence is directed against a vulnerable character – Milky is easily
the most gentle of all the characters, vulnerable throughout because of his race
and lulled into a false sense of security in the scene leading up to the attack
• The violence and language are unexpected and shocking – the scene
starts very calmly; the other characters don't realise what's about to happen
• The scene is distressing – we see most of the film through Shaun's
eyes and he is especially upset and confused by what is happening
• Repeated aggressive use of the word 'c***' along with racist terms
within the scene.

8. Need:
• Film
• Date
• Content
• Controversies
• Cuts
• Issues of concern
• If historical, would these issues remain
today?
• Illustrate work with stills as
appropriate.
This Is England
Trainspotting