Craig picks on Derek. He chooses him because he can over power and domineer him, he uses Derek to boost his own confidence. He finds a victim in Bentley as no one else fits this role. As a loner an outsider Bentley is desperate for friendship, this makes him even more vulnerable and so would jump at any chance to leave the house, have fun, make friends, and become an independent man.
Craig sees Bentley’s vulnerability and lack of confidence and feels he can use them to his advantage. Craig has the chance to have power over someone for once. They are very opposite people from their clothes to their families and personalities. Bentley believes Craig is strong, hard and intelligent (which he is not) Bentley has confidence in him looks up to him, and because of this will do whatever it takes to fit in and be accepted. He also looks up to his sister she is flowing with confidence and he admires that he wish he was more like that. He dances with her but gets frustrated with himself when he cannot remember the words, he feels ashamed and disgusted with himself. She is the only person who can protect him from the world he is petrified of. We see when Derek first leaves the house with his sister we see a camera shot of the long lonely road, which Derek has to walk down. He is scared but feels more at ease knowing his sisters by his side. This is the first step of the man Derek is going to become.
We see in the butchers the big, hard, gangster wannabe get the coupons mixed up this shows us how he is no different from Bentley he has the same lack of intelligence but gets away with this because he has the confidence to make up for it. During the railway scene Craig appears to run into a moving train it looks very believable even the audience falling for it as well as Bentley. Now our thoughts and opinions about Craig being dodgy are confirmed we now see Craig for who he really is a scheming, cheating, deceitful, child.
On the roof Derek says, “Let him have it,” meaning let the police officer have the gun, but in court this was taken out of perspective implying that Derek meant for Craig to shoot at the officer. Derek’s words were twisted to make him look guilty and that the shooting was his entire fault.
During the court scene the judge confuses him and intimidates him. He does not sympathise and is harsh. He appears to have already made up his mind that Bentley is guilty and no matter what evidence is given it would not sway him. His answers are short. He is not very confident so the prosecution use this to make him look even guiltier because he gets confused about what happens and keeps changing his mind. We feel even more sympathy because we know he is innocent but he doesn’t have the intelligence to explain himself and show his innocence. However the judge talks to Craig like a child about his guns almost joking with him. He talks to him in a kind voice, he was understanding and sympathetic this making Craig’s questioning a whole lot easier for him. The jury also have made their mind up about Bentley.
The judge also shows the jury the knuckleduster, which Derek did not use. He makes it out to be an evil weapon (which it is) and how much damage it could of caused if it had been used. He describes in great detail stating that Derek is guilty for just carrying it.
The jury only consists of men who when it comes to the final decision will be a lot harsher than women would be, women would sympathise with Bentley where as the men just want to see him punished for what he appears to have done. Bentley stands out in court as he is the only one (apart from the judge who is wearing red symbolising danger and anger) wearing a brightly coloured jacket, a blue jacket given to him by Craig to make him part of the gang. However this jacket does not make him part of the gang as the others are wearing black jackets. Even Craig fits in he looks normal in a beige coat, the jury all wear dark colours black and navy. Bentleys jacket brings unwanted attention to him, he stands out so the jury will look at him before even considering Craig.
The director shows us how much Derek’s case has affected the people of Britain. We see the bath full of letters, we also see protests and campaigns to set Derek free and spare his life. We see his father fighting so hard to set his son free. We now cannot understand if so many people are against his death why should it go ahead. Why should a young boys life be taken away for saying for small words to protect someone’s life rather than take it.
We as an audience are made to feel that capital punishment, as a form of punishment is wrong as we see a helpless and defenceless boy and his families worlds turned around. Not only is he wrongly accused in the first place, mercy is not given and we see Bentley hung. He was innocent, but because there was nothing to prove it a young boys life was wretchedly snatched away! I think that the director was strongly against capitol punishment that is why he presents us with a young helpless boy and his struggles just to have friends. He shows us Derek’s side of his ordeal and his struggles. He does a really good job as by the end we all feel strongly against capitol punishment as we now know sometimes the wrong person is punished, and once done the punishment cannot be amended!!
