This story is very controversial because many people had different feelings and opinions of everything. A few examples are: There are many different viewpoints on what happened during the break in of the factory and the murder of PC Miles. Also because some argued that the meaning of line ‘Let Him Have It’ was that Derek was encouraging Christopher to shoot the officer while others believed he intended to persuade his friend to hand over the gun to the police. Numerous people thought that Derek Bentley shouldn’t have been sentenced to death and hung, although some believed that it was best that he was executed.
Medak’s point of view was that Derek Bentley should not have been hung and he shows us by the way he presented the film that he thought Derek was completely innocent. So throughout the entire film he showed the good side of his character, so as to make the audience trust him and also to manipulate the audience into thinking he was generally a lovely person, and making them feel sorry for him.
Peter Medak gets his message across successfully by always showing Derek and his family in light colours and in bright light. In Derek’s home there are brightly coloured lights and happy colours which express that they are a happy and well-brought-up family which have an upright manner about them. When Derek is hanging around with Niven, (Christopher Craig’s brother) and his gang, he has a light blue blazer on, while the rest of the gang are wearing dark and black coats and hats. This shows the contrast in their personalities, and that even though Derek is hanging around with the local gangsters, he is still a decent person inside.
At the very start, while the opening titles were playing, there was sad and mysterious music playing, which tells you instantly that the film is moving and upsetting. The titles, being black and white are very plain and serious, telling the audience that the film is dealing with a very humourless and serious situation.
The music speeds up making it more mysterious and secretive. Bombs start to go off in the background of the music, starting the film.
The music and opening titles fade into a scene of the blitz, setting the location of the film and the date it was set.
The camera is positioned long shot and at eye level, in the middle of the Blitz, to life size, to make it feel like you are involved in the scene. You see soldiers running and shouting, there are houses and buildings on fire, and the streets are being bombed.
There is a distraught woman, crying for help, holding a small girl in her arms. A boy (Derek) is stuck under some bricks and rubble from a bombed building and he is being dug out by his parents. You see a close up of his face to show his emotions. He seems confused and dizzy and has blood dripping down his face from a head injury. Peter Medak tries to show that this is when Derek’s life really began and how he became epileptic. Right from the start he shows Derek in a vulnerable position and shows him being supported and loved by his family.
Derek’s mental age was 11 years old and when he went to court he was confused and when asked a complicated question, couldn’t answer. Peter Medak tried to show him in a defenceless and unfair position because at that mental age he should not have been allowed to go to court. The jury decided that he was guilty with a recommendation for mercy, but the judge took no notice of it and ignored the fact that his mental age was 11 and that the jury thought it was best to let him live. The recommendation for mercy had never been ignored before and Derek was the first one to be neglected.
Overall Peter Medak is extremely biased by showing Derek as an innocent and good person, when that is not what he was really like in real life. Records prove that he was actually a bit of a rebel, but Medak wanted to show us the innocent and vulnerable side of him.