Butterfly Collectors

Dex Lister is a 17-year old caring for his two grade school siblings in a home that is missing its parents. Suspected and then arrested by Det. John McKeown in the murder of a factory supervisor, Lister's fitness as a guardian comes into question. The plot moves through a series of circumstances that eventually lead the viewer to question the motives of the detective and the young suspect. Are Dex's parents really missing? Is he all that he portrays himself to be? Is the detective's judgment being clouded by his personal problems?

Pete Postlethwaite as John McKeown and Jamie Draven as Dex Lister are excellent. The interchange between the two, first as friends and then as foes, heightens as each new fact is uncovered. "Butterfly Collectors" is as much a murder mystery as an examination of the effect people have on one another and their families.

I found it difficult, at times, hearing the dialogue clearly because of the thick dialect. Still "Butterfly Collectors" is a smart, intelligent made-for-TV movie, worth the almost three-hour view.