Detainment

This is such a disturbing real story and the script lines are based on the actual taped interrogations and confessions of the two ten-year-old boys that murdered in a gruesome, inhuman way the little James Bulger, a two-year-old baby. The case shocked the whole globe when it happened in 1993 and the two boys became the youngest convicted murderers of the 21st century. If you are parents, especially with little kids avoid this short film at any cost. One should protect himself from the sheer volume of human depravity and wickedness. Unfortunately, there are stories that they take a lot more than a strong stomach to digest.

Nevertheless, if one wants to evaluate the film itself it is a great achievement as it is much difficult to direct two young kids to portray the two murderers in such a masterful and convincing manner. Leon Hughes and Ely Solan are two names that, I am certain, will hear more in the near future. The director is Vincent Lambe, who shoots exclusively short-length movies such as "Broken Things" and "After the War", but this one is definitely his magnum opus so far. "Detainment" made the Oscar shortlist for Best Live Action Short Film 2019. There is a controversy around this nomination as Lambe didn't ask for the permission of little James Bulger's parents, something that is considered a major unethical move from the film's producers team. If you are a fan of the true crime genre. you should watch "Detainment" keeping always in mind the remarks I made at the beginning of my review.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

In February 1993, the body of two year old James Bulger was found on a railway line in Walton, Merseyside. Shortly after, two ten year old boys Robert Thompson (Leon Hughes) and Jon Venables (Ely Solan) were arrested and taken for questioning. This film is a re-enactment of the actual police interview, taken directly from transcripts. Whilst Thompson cracks under the pressure, Venables maintains a steely, hardened persona.

Last year marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the murder of James Bulger by two ten year old boys, a crime that still strikes a massive blow on the cultural consciousness whenever it is resurrected on TV or in the media. And so this controversial Northern Ireland short production was produced, not apparently to cream off any publicity from the milestone. A further uncomfortable truth is the condemnation from the mother of the murdered boy, who has voiced her disapproval of the production (and was apparently not consulted!)

In thirty short minutes, director Vincent Lambe has to cram as much affecting material as he can into his production. And so, while we open with deceptively easy going shots of the boys larking about in the shopping centre, we are quickly plunged into the uncomfortable central setup of the interview room, where it all comes out. Hughes, as Thompson, is particularly upsetting, as the child assaulted with the full gravity of what he's done, reacting with an emotional wildness that is very unsettling. Equally so is the flashback sequences of the boys leading James to his doom, where just the image of the innocent little boy and his gradual breakdown is enough to churn your gut.

It's hard to think of many other cases where something so short leaves such a devastating impression, but this is definitely one case. In the throes of their performances, the child actors sometimes lapse back into their Northern Irish accents, losing their Liverpudlian dialect, but in being so integral to something so powerful and emotionally devastating, this is a very minor flaw that can be forgiven. Not an easy watch, or even something you'd want to see again, but still undeniably shattering. ****

First review on imdb. I watched the director on Irish prime time discussing the controversy that arise after the oscar nomination, and I was apprehensive to watch after the backlash that ensued. I have read both parents autobiography and although I think it's impossibe to feel the entirety of their pain, however you get a sense of just how disturbing/traumatizing those weeks after must have been. This short portrays that nauseating feeling very well. This film simply documents the words that came from boys mouths, nothing else. It does not exploit the situation for any entertainment. There is no nature vs nurture debate. Unbiased and real. 9/10

There are some events in history that creative minds very rarely go near. This is particularly true of murders so shocking and horrifying that most empathetic folk react only with the rawest of emotions. The Moors Murders committed by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley and the serial murders of Fred & Rose West have both been dramatised for crime tv shows such as Deadly Women and Crimes That Shook Britain but very rarely adapted to film. Whether it's out of respect for the victims' families, an inability to create something meaningful or some other reason there are some crimes that are left untouched by film. One such murder case that up until now remained away from the big screen is the murder of Jamie Bulger, a toddler who was brutally murdered by two 10 year old boys Robert Thompson & Jon Venebles after they snatched him from a butcher's shop. The case caused a massive debate over the treatment of youth offenders who commit serious crimes and sickened Britain. Making a film about this topic 25 years on runs the risk of being divisive at best and in supreme bad taste at worst. Detainment manages to avoid both.

Detainment is a film that is based solely on the transcripts and Police interviews conducted with Venebles and Thompson. It's a 30 minute short film that not only shows the boys in interview but glimpses of their accounts dramatised for us to see the lead up to the murder. The team behind Detainment do a superb job of casting everyone involved in the interviews especially Thompson (played by Leon Hughes) and Venebles (played by Ely Solan.) Every performance is painfully precise in portraying every character as authentically as possible. There are no over dramatised evil moments from either murderer: like with the real interviews themselves, the behaviour of each boy speaks volumes on their own. Detainment shows the bare facts of the case without hyperbole. The interview rooms are bare and lit in the most basic of ways with no stand out colours to distract from the narrative at hand. It shows as much as it legally can without being a gratuitous gore fest.

The film achieves everything it sets out to: it's effective, it tells the story very well and it's structure is solid from beginning to end. In every respect it is a brilliant short film. Regardless of that, it is a very difficult watch and one of the hardest films to review personally. It's been a quarter of a decade and the mere mention of the case can still instigate very emotionally driven reactions. I was only 5 months older than Bulger when he died and it was a case that caused my Mother - like many parents of that day - to be ever more vigilant with myself & my siblings. Detainment is a confronting movie by the very nature of its subject matter which makes it incredibly difficult to recommend to anyone to watch.

Showing that psychologically challenging topics can be shown on screen without being tasteless and the need for embellishment, Detainment is a well constructed but difficult watch.

Greetings again from the darkness. Evil personified. That is the only possible way to describe 10 year old boys Robert Thompson and Jon Venables. In February 1993, the British boys skipped school and spent the day doing typically mischievous activities around the local shopping center. Typical that is until they abducted 2 year old James Bulger.

This is writer-director Vincent Lambe's 4th short film, and it's based on the disturbingly true story of the abduction-torture-murder of toddler James by the two young boys. The film draws directly from the actual tapes of interviews/interrogations once the boys were identified from the grainy security footage. This dramatization includes the pleas of innocence from the boys, as well as the reactions of both their parents and the police officers. The scenes depicting the questioning of the boys is powerful, and the scenes of the 3 boys together is more than most of us can bear, despite little of the crime being shown (thankfully).

Young actors Ely Solan (Jon) and Leon Hughes (Robert) are both extraordinary in their performances. Director Lambe deftly applies judgment in what is shown on screen and what instead corrupts our thoughts. It's heart-breaking to see what the parents of these boys must endure, but it's beyond our comprehension to imagine what Baby James Bulger's parents must have endured. The boys were tried as adults in 1993, and both subsequently released from incarceration and given assumed identities for their own protection. If somehow Lambe's short film isn't disturbing enough, it's pretty simple to get the full report of what the boys inflicted on that poor child. Evil personified.