“Detainment,” an acclaimed British film about the real-life
murder of 2-year-old James Bulger in 1993, has been shortlisted for Oscar
consideration. But the late Liverpool lad’s still-mourning parents are not
impressed.
“I accept
this is a murder of such magnitude it will always be written about and featured
in the news but to make a film so sympathetic to James’s killers is
devastating,” father Ralph Bulger told the Daily Mirror.
Irish
filmmaker Vincent Lambe based “Detainment” on police interrogation transcripts
of convicted murderers Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who were 10 years old
at the time they abducted and tortured James, who died after an iron bar was
used to crush his skull.
Lambe’s
acclaimed film won best short film and a specialjury award at the 2018 Cannes Lions festival, as well as the
grand prix at the Odense film festival in Denmark, which qualified it for
Academy Award status.
Now, the
boy’s mother, Denise Fergus, is calling for the film to be dropped from Oscar
contention. She also accused Lambe of exploiting her family tragedy.
“In my own
personal opinion, I think he’s just trying to big his career up. And to do that
under someone else’s grief is just unbelievable and unbearable,” Fergus told the hostsof ITV’s “Loose Women.”
The major
sticking point for both mourning parents: Lambe never took the time to reach
out to them.
“Not once has
the maker of this film contacted me or any of James’s family about this film
…,” Ralph told the Mirror. “It has been 26 years since my son was taken and
murdered and so I have seen many documentaries and news stories about him. But
I have never been so cut up and offended by something that shows so little
compassion to James and his family.”
After the
public backlash, Lambe took to Twitter to plead his case to
Denise: He said he “never intended any disrespect by not consulting her” and
his film “had not been made for financial gain.”
“This film is
in no way sympathetic to the killers and does not attempt to make excuses for
their horrendous actions,” Lambe wrote. “There has been criticism that the film
‘humanises’ the killers, but if we cannot accept that they are human beings, we
will never begin to understand what could have driven them to commit such a
horrific crime. The only way to prevent something similar happening in the
future is if we understand the cause of it.”
Thompson and
Venables were released from prison in 2001 under new identities. Venables was
later convicted of child pornography offenses and spent from 2010 to 2013 in
prison. He returned to prison in 2018 after pleading guilty to possession child
porn.
☺ Thank You For Reading This Article Murder victim James Bulger’s mom slams ‘Detainment’ movie, asks Oscars to boycott. Hopefully Beneficial, Do Not Forget To Share
