The first scene opens with the sound of high pitched piano music this creates an impression of tension this then later gives us an image of sympathy for Derek especially when you see him under the brick wall when his dad is franticly trying to uncover him from the remains of the wall. During this scene there is many camera shots used for example one of the camera shots used during this scene they use a close up of Derek when he has been rescued from under the wall this creates an image of sympathy for Derek as he is helpless underneath a wall.
When Derek grew older he was caught breaking into a shed with his friends during this Derek and his friends a portrayed as criminals or miscreants by the way they are trashing this shed all of a sudden the owner of the shed turns up Derek’s friends leave Derek all alone this creates sympathy for Derek as his friend leave him to get in to trouble. When the owner of the shed turns up he shines a torch in Derek’s eyes this causes Derek to have an epileptic fit this creates sympathy because he is left by his friends and now he is no in pain that makes us fell sympathy.
Later on in Derek’s life he is at a correction school for breaking into the shed, Derek is seen standing up against a wall out side of the office with is head bowed this creates sympathy for Derek as he don’t know why his father is talking to the owner of the correction school. His father is talking to the owner about the judge at the court who sent him there his father said “he asked him to spell fluorescent” he father said that even he couldn’t spell fluorescent this creates an image of sympathy because Derek was wrongly sent to the correction school.
Derek was sent to an army recruitment office where he was forced to have an epileptic fit to see if he could be accepted in to the army. This creates sympathy as Derek look like he is in a lot of pain during this also this creates sympathy because Derek was rejected just because he has epileptic fits and this was not seen as discrimination during this time period.
Derek falls out with Craig and he fells he has make it up to him Derek achieves this by stealing the keys to the butchers shop. Derek’s parents ban him round seeing Craig but one Craig’s friends comes round to his house dressed in smart clothes and the think it is someone different. The man asks Derek if he wants to go for a walk with him. You the see Derek going up stairs t his bed room to get he keys for the butchers shop Derek then leaves the house. Derek then meets him best friend Craig sitting on a wall near Derek’s house e hands the butchers shop keys to Craig and they head to the butchers shop. Craig’s companions leave him all alone with Derek once they saw the owner of the butchers shop Craig decides to go o a near by shop and break in to it.
Craig climbs a drain pipe to reach the roof shortly after Derek joins Craig on the roof during this time a woman who live cross the road tells her husband that there is some on the roof who then calls the police. When he police turns up Derek turns desperate a he tries to leave the roof, Derek becomes so desperate that he starts to fight with crag this creates sympathy for Derek as he is upset about getting in to trouble Derek gives up trying to fight Derek falls to the ground and he says “my dads gonna kill me” this creates sympathy for Derek as he is truly worried about what his dad will say to him or what will happen this also creates sympathy like when he was fighting with Craig.
Craig opens fire on the local police first Craig holds a gun to the police officer and then Derek says “let him have it Chris” Craig believed that this meant start shooting and so he did he shot the police man in the shoulder the police man scrabbles to his feet and arrests Derek. The police man then starts to shout at Derek this creates sympathy as Derek only has the mind of an 11 year old this makes us feel that Derek hasn’t done any thing wrong this also could be seen as biased as now more people are starting to dislike Craig.
Soon after more police arrived one police officer appeared on the roof and Craig shot at him Derek rushes over to the dead police man. Derek the shouts “you killed him” this makes us feel sympathy as Derek is showing remorse for the actions of his friend and for the death of the police man. Derek gets taken down the stairs and out to the police cars the first police officer demands a gun to force Craig back this makes us feel sorry for the police officer and this just shows how tense this scene became. Craig is forced back towards the railings on the roof and Craig decides to jump off the roof out of desperation as he has ran out of bullets as Craig jumps the film turns to slow motion and you hear Craig screaming. Before he hits the ground Craig falls through a glass roof once Craig has hit the ground he starts to wish he had shoot the lot of the police officers. The lighting during this scene is very dull with only spotlight as it is night the whole scene fells very serious and tense.
The trial scene opens the camera panning the court and then the scene cuts to the judge asking questions to Craig like; “between the age of 11 and your present age, 16, how many fire arms have you had?” And “did having them make you feel like one of the gangsters in the films?” after, Derek is questioned this part starts out with a upper body shot and then it turns in to a close up of Derek’s petrified face this soon turns in to an extreme close up of Derek's terrified eyes looking down at the floor also Derek starts to sway forward and backward all of this creates a huge amount of sympathy for Derek as Derek is totally petrified of been in trouble also this could be seen as biased as in this scene there is not a lot of sympathy for Craig but on the other hand Derek had done nothing wrong and Craig was the one that had killed the police officer not Derek so Derek deserved all the sympathy as he is innocent. Derek is scented to death but Craig is only given ten years this is were the injustice starts to appear.
During the period of time from the court to the execution Derek has a number of visits from his family but in the visit were iris and his mother visits he tells them that “I’m not afraid to die because I didn’t kill anyone” this is one of the parts where Derek receives the most sympathy as Derek is showing that he hadn’t done any thing and he is also showing that he is not just going to be killed he is going to be killed with him believing that he hadn’t done any thing this make us fell sympathy because he is trying to be noble and point out what he thinks. During this point in the scene there is no music and only spotlights this creates a sombre atmosphere.
Derek's family campaign for days when they are trying to clear Derek's name and prove Derek is innocent. Derek's family are overwhelmed with letters of support and partitions to send to the government to try and clear Derek's name. This creates sympathy for Derek as he all of his community are there to support him in his time of need.
Derek receives a lot of sympathy when he sentence has not been taken back and there is nothing any one can do this further influence us to feel more sympathy for Derek and his family as they are help less.
Derek dictated a letter to his family as he couldn’t read or write this created sympathy as Derek cannot write a letter to his family also the things Derek wrote in it was very personal this creates sympathy as he is writing this letter as if nothing was happening to him.
On the day of the execution the family only receive one letter of support this creates a little bit of sympathy for Derek as there is a still person recognising the situation Derek is in.
During the remainder of this scene the only music is the sound of a clock ticking also the camera cuts from family to Derek’s cell and the execution hall these both create an image of sympathy for Derek as his last minuets alive are being counted down by a clock ticking and the fact the camera cuts creates a tense and sombre atmosphere. Derek is also seen praying before he is hung this creates sympathy as this will be his last actions alive. Derek is seen with a fabric bag with tied around his head and his hands and feet tied together the last shot was of Derek's shoes falling to the ground. This was the point at which Derek receives the most sympathy as this is the point where a totally innocent man is wrongly hung.
In conclusion I think this film shows how inhumane capital punishment was and I believe Peter Medak dose this very successfully in this film. The main message of this film is to show people how wrong capital punishment was and how mistakes was made and how innocent people were sentenced to death also this film goes on to prove that the innocent could be hung and that people who committed crimes could escape with a minimal punishment this is shown by Christopher Craig and the end as on the film it says that Craig only received ten years and then was released back in to the community and this was wrong as Craig would get out of prison at 26 and he would have the rest of his life to live where as Derek paid the ultimate price with his life. Over all I think Peter Medak uses bias to great effect and his use of dramatic devices all add to the sympathy for Derek.
