Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34720 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-07-25
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 79 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Written by David Leland and directed by Alan Clarke, Made in Britain is a slice of horrible but not inaccurate life from 1982. It holds a terrific early performance from Tim Roth as a skinhead with a swastika caste-mark tattoo, who constantly bares shark-like teeth as he spits embittered, articulate defiance at caring social workers and truncheon-wielding policemen alike. Sixteen-year-old Trevor (Roth) is remanded to an assessment centre before sentencing, but remains determined to disobey the rules imposed on him by any authority figures and spends the whole 73-minute play challenging the system to smack him back down, by vandalising the Job Centre, using his case-file as a toilet, stealing cars, victimising members of the "immigrant community" and shouting bile at people. The cycle that will lead him to an adult life in prison is explained to him with blackboard diagrams, but he believes he's better off keeping his hatred burning than toeing the line to end up as a no-hoper in a society that prizes obedience over conscience. It was originally televised as one of four Leland-filmed dramas about different aspects of the British education system, which made it seem less monomaniacal in its focus on an extreme case. There's no denying that it's an honest portrait of a monster calculated to terrify even the most concerned liberals which still manages to celebrate his self-destructive defiance. A film for television rather than a TV play, it has very strong language but the violence is all in Roth's face.

On the DVD: No extra features here, but it does come with optional English sub-titles, and the theme song by the Exploited over the menu. --Kim Newman

Special Features
4:3 Full Frame
DVD 5
English
English
Region 2
Mono English
Mono
Interactive Menus
Scene Access

Synopsis
When teenage skinhead Trevor (Tim Roth) is apprehended smashing the windows of a shop owned by Pakistanis, social worker Harry (Eric Richard) sends him to an assessment centre where Trevor proves to be far more intelligent than one would be led to believe. But he is not easily contained, and it isn't long before he's back on the streets, stealing cars and leaving a general trail of mayhem. From a fact-based screenplay by David Leland, Alan Clarke's (SCUM, THE FIRM) film is a hard-hitting drama that received almost unanimous praise when it debuted on TV in 1983. Filmed on location in London with a documentary-style approach, and featuring the blazing screen debut of Roth, MADE IN BRITAIN is a landmark of socially conscious British cinema.

Customer Reviews

A troubled youth in Thatcher's government...
Tim Roth plays an accurate portrayal of a skinhead youth in the early 1980s,bored,out of control and a lack of respect for people around him-with some brutal scenes depicting life as an unstable youth in an institute which doesn't do much to keep you interested or out of trouble. A great film-which gives an insight into the life of a troubled youth with no prospects,future and opportunities.

A Good Bit of Brit Grit
Made in Britain has that made for TV quality that blighted many an English film. But, in retrospect, it really works for this film. The lazy camerawork has a documentary-like style, invasive and instinctive - getting right up the nose of Trevor (Tim Roth) our racist anti-hero. No time (or money) for smooth, well executed dolly shots here. And, the picture quality is grainy and the colours are all washed out. But, these are the kind of features that give Brit films their grittiness, their raw energy and social realism - and Made in Britain is exploding with it.

Tim Roth is another explosive element. He has an on-screen presence to rival Crowe in Romper Stomper and he is just as psychotic, anti-social, and oh yeah he is very very racist. Racism is never an easy thing to watch, but it is made infinitely worse by the machiavellian style with which Trevor sets up his victim. Shakespeare would have loved the tragedy in this one.

If you like a bit of bad language, random violence, and
anti-establishment raving - you may like this film.... or you may just be a jeuvenile offender like Trevor.

Non conformism & its consequences
A really dark production showing the underbelly of Thatcher's Britain. Trevor, a law breaking & serial offending skinhead with racist (indeed, selectively & often contradictory, racist) views,works his way through the judicial system,as his behaviour & offences worsten.
Trevor isn't without a degree of intelligence (even cunning) but he is angry (indeed his anger seems to border on mental illness) & lives the the stereotypical existence of a right wing skin, with alife of glue sniffing, racial hatred,theft,vandalism & defiance of authority.
This film is very powerful & its potency increases,as we see Trevor descending into a spiral which will ultimately lead to a confrontation with the police, authority & the establishment which he begins to realise he can never win.
Illustrates brilliantly how a young life can be wasted if the circumstances dictate. Tim Roth is excellent in the role of Trevor & there are some marvellous performances by the rest of the cast (look out for a very young "Sergeant Cryer" from the Bill, as Trevor's social worker).
The final scene in the police station is particularly powerful as the reality of the situation his behaviour has placed him in, begins to dawn on a still defiant but far less arrogant Trevor.
Excellent British drama,well worth a punt.