Derek loves the song “Wheel of Fortune”. We see Derek to the music shop to buy the song. This shows to us that he is not violent and he is a kind hearted person. At the shop the assistance Stella flirts with Derek. Derek is uncomfortable and looks down to the floor which is childish. This also makes the viewer’s feel sympathy for him.
Derek stays inside the house for a year, his sister eventually convinces him to go out. When he goes out for the first time we see a close up of his parents showing their happiness.
When Derek is walking his dog at the railway tracks he meets Chris Craig. This shows that he is an animal lover and is not a kind of a person who would harm anyone. This makes the viewer feel compassion for him.
As Derek is epileptic, he has to go and sign on for not going to the war. To prove he is epileptic he has to have a test. The test makes him have a fit; this arouses the viewer’s sympathy.
We first see Chris Craig when Derek is walking his dog. Derek looks scared when he first meets Craig and he wants to be left alone as he does not want to get into any trouble. Chris carries guns on him, he swears and is rude to people. This shows that he is not a nice person and can get him into trouble. Chris’s brother is also a gangster and gets put into jail. This show to us that Derek is getting involved with the wrong kind people.
Derek is shown to be the total opposite of Chris Craig. Derek is shy, loves his family, loves music and he is scared of going out.
Derek goes to the butchers shop to get some food; when the shopkeeper asks for the coupon, Derek gives him the wrong one. This scene indicates to us that Derek is not really capable of operating effectively in the world at large. He cannot execute simple tasks correctly without help. This makes us feel sorry for Bentley. When he leaves the shop he takes the key from the door. Derek taking the keys is shown to us in close so we can his face when he takes the keys.
Derek says to Craig that they should go back, but Craig convinces him. This shows that Derek did not want to go ahead with the robbery. As they are climbing the side of the building Derek and Craig are spotted by a little girl, who is in her bedroom. We zoom in on the little girl who tells her mother. When Derek hears the siren of the police car, we see a close up of his face. Derek says “My dads gonna kill me,” this is a childish phrase. This makes us feel sympathy for him.
Derek throws the key he is holding in a panic because he hears the police siren. His action is hurried and uncalculated, almost like a child getting rid of something in fear. The lighting on the roof is low key, this adds to the tension. We see a number of cars pull up below as if we ourselves are on the roof. The policeman gets out of the car, climbs a gate and then goes to the warehouse and start the climb to get on the roof. This sequence is shot form below. Medak cuts to Bentley and Craig on the roof. Both of them look frightened, especially Bentley. They scuffle and shout at each other. They speak quickly and their voices are high pitched.
The policeman appears, climbing over the parapet. Craig pushes Bentley aside. We now see the policeman come into full view and at this point Craig draws his gun. We see it from front view so it appears to be pointing at us.
The police man grabs Bentley and shoves him behind him. Bentley appears scared and offers no resistance to the policeman. His attention is focused on Craig and the gun.
Bentley shouts “Let him have it Chris” meaning give the gun to the policeman but Chris thinks he means shot at him. Chris then shots the policeman on the shoulder. The policeman runs for cover with Bentley behind a small hut, where the policeman holds Bentley against the building and searches for a weapon. This is all shown to us in close up so we can see their facial expressions.
We have a jump shot back to Chris; we see him shooting at everyone and he looks really manic. This shows that he is not afraid and he is enjoying it.
Another policeman comes up on the roof and goes to find Chris Craig. We see an eye level extreme long shot of the policeman and Chris. Chris panics and shoots the policeman twice in the chest. Bentley then comes out from behind the roof stairwell entrance and goes over to the policeman who is lying on the floor and tries to help but is pulled away by other policeman. He is then taken down the stairs roughly and verbally abused by other policeman. All of this creates sympathy for Derek Bentley.
We see a long shot of Chris jumping backwards, off the roof in slow motion and the camera follows his fall down onto a glass roof which shatters.
The camera does a slow pan of the court room. The court room is shown as a very serious and formal place. We see a close up of Bentley’s bruised face which indicates that he has been maltreated in the prison. This makes the viewer feel sympathy for Bentley.
We see Derek Bentley’s face in focus and Iris his sister behind him not in focus, both their heads fill the frame, this emphasises closeness between them both. The camera then focuses on Iris and Derek is out of focus. This shows that his sister is there for him which creates sympathy for him.
When Derek is in the dock his head is looking down to the floor, this shows that he is unsure and nervous. We see a close-up on Derek’s face and then we see a shot of the jury shaking their heads in disbelief.
When Derek is found guilty we have a jump shot to the family to see their reaction. Derek says nothing and just keeps looking to the floor.
We have a low angle shot of Derek being taken down to his cell. This shows that he is strong. When Chris is taken down he is smiling and this shows to us that he is not afraid.
After the trial the family visit Derek in the prison. Knowing that Derek is going to be hanged, his mother starts crying. This adds to the sympathy for Derek.
Derek’s family try to appeal to the verdict. They get all the public’s support but are unsuccessful. We see an ariel view of Derek’s father waiting at the House of Commons for the outcome. When he hears the result he faints.
Bentley dictates a letter for his family to a police officer who writes it form him. The letter is very childish. Derek signs the letter himself and this shows that his writing is very childish as well.
Derek is executed at nine o’clock in the morning. At this time we see a lot of his family. At exactly nine o’clock the family is all cuddled up and crying at the loss of Derek. The hanging process is very quick. Derek is seen in his room praying and then he is quickly rushed to the hanging room. Here he has a black hat put on him and a rope around his neck. Suddenly a trap door is released and Derek is dropped down to his death. His shoes fall off and this shows that part off Derek has gone. We then see a long shot of Derek hanging.
I think the film is very effective at gaining the viewers sympathy for Derek. The film reveals the inhuman and humane nature of the people. The film brings out the sympathy of the audience for Derek in the way he was treated due to his incapability’s. The director has captured the sympathy for Derek in such a successful way.
