Let Him Have It

Before I saw this film I was all for bringing back the death penalty in Britain, now I can see why it was abolished with a justice system like we have in this country. After I first saw this film a couple of years ago when I was still in school, it left me shocked to say the least and really mellowed my views on capital punishment. I watched it again last night and towards the end I was in tears, I couldn't believe how braindead parliament must've been to have hung Derrick as he was clearly innocent. And to think that they had no interest in re-analysing the sentence until after it was carried out is beyond belief.

As a result of seeing this film, even more so after the second time, I see little reason to reintroduce capital punishment. The justice system today isn't any more logical than it was over 50 years ago when this film is set. Anyway, the acting is superb and this film really seems to follow what is a true story very well. And considering that this was made in the early 90s, it doesn't even look dated like a number of films from around that time do now, perhaps because it was already set in the past from the moment it came out. Furthermore it's a rather emotional film, like I said, it really had me in tears watching it again, if you're anywhere near as soft as I am it'll probably have the same effect on you. It's a real tearjerker.

In short, a brilliant drama and I would especially recommend it to any of the "bring back capital punishment" types. I challenge you to watch it without being touched and reconsider your views on the death penalty.

This will have you shouting at the screen when the film ends, enraged at the treatment handed out to Bentley, a pawn if ever there was one, in Britain's legal system before the abolition of the death penalty.
Forget the fluffiness of his brief Doctor Who career, Ecclestone really gets his teeth in to the role and excels in this as the victim (it could be argued that he was just as much a victim as the murdered police officer), of a gross miscarriage of justice. Tom Courtney gives a fantastic performance as Derek's father, a man who seems even right up to the end, to have an almost blinkered belief that the criminal justice system will not let his family down.
With Christie (10 Rillington Place), the story has a sly, conniving, unrepentant murderer at its heart. With this, the actual murderer is almost regarded as of a secondary importance due to legal technicalities and it's his unwitting accomplice that carries the can as the establishment strives to bring someone, anyone, to book to assuage public anger. An exceptional film that tells a grim tale with sobering forcefulness.

I'd like to start by stating that this is a review of the film and not a long winded statement about the case of Craig and Bentley or the now obsolete British capital punishment system.

This true story about criminal injustice is one of my favourites. The acting is superb and the film is spot on with its actual story line. There's no ficticious bits that have been added to beef it up.

If you already know the story of Craig and Bentley, you will already know the outcome of the story, but don't let it deter you from watching this.
It will keep you glued to your TV til the end and will give you some food for thought regarding justice.

No disrespect but the person below has got the wrong movie. This is the true story of Derik Bentley who died at the merciless hands of a twisted Brittish justice system that in itself spawned the end of the death penalty. No T.A.R.D.I.S. could change this but common sense should. Derik (Christoper Eccleston) was just 19 years old with a mental age of 11. He was epaleptic and suffered from what we now know as ADHD. It was hard for him to get to grips with reality and was easily lead into the wrong crowd. Christopher Craig (Paul Renolds) was clearly the only criminal but as he was 16 the law in 1952 saved him from the death sentence. He clearly deserved the punishment he got but what brought the law into disreput was that Derik was hung because he was 19 and with Craig that night, but apart from trespassing was totaly innocent. He could not defend himself due to his mental incapacity and as it was a police officer that was killed there was no mercy at the hands of the home secretary. Yet his murder by the Brittish justice system was not in vain as the public discust showed itself, leading to the end of hanging in the Britain. If you are one of those people who think the death penality should return then you should buy this movie and then see if you don't change your mind. It also goes to show how much more enlightened we are today with mental health issues. There is of corse the flip side to the coin. You can see from watching this film why hanging had to stop but you can also see how since then how many killers are taking advantage of the fact and getting away with murder. I think upton examining the facts about this case in crime and history books as well as this movie is not whether or not the death penality should have gone but rather ignorant the law was in this case and shows how the quest for revenge (as it was a police offer that was killed) can over rule judgment and common sense. The real stupid thing was that paliment were not prepared to re-examin the case until the sentence was carried out, which might be ok for a clip round the ear but you can't bring someone back from the dead. Derik's body was later removed from the prison grounds and a service given to church grounds. If there is a God and life after death then the only winner is Derik and all those guilty of sending him to the gallows will be judged by the higher great judge. If you are into true crime story's you really must buy this for your DVD library.