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.

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.

I felt guilty watching this as I know that Denise Bulger, the mother of the murdered toddler, was so upset at its being released. This short film was excellently done and, if anything, brings James's story back up to people. May his memory be eternal.

The young actors did phenomenal jobs. If you want an example of an excellent child actor, watch this. I cannot wait to see them in feature-length films in the future.

I wasn't sure whether to watch this or not, I guess I was curious to see it after all the media reports about it, and of course it being nominated for an Oscar.

The acting is superb, especially by the two boys and the parents. I guess the film made me realise what the parents of the boys must have felt when realising the evil things their own child had done, that was hard to watch.

Do I think the film should ever have been made, I am honestly not sure, but films are quite often made without the consent of all involved.

What those two did, is the most evilest thing I have ever seen in my life, it disturbs me that they are now free.

I have never felt so sorry towards anyone as i do to James's parents.

RIP James

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. ****