Horrific if film about the killing of our boy James wins an Oscar
THE father of murdered toddler James Bulger yesterday slammed the makers of an award-winning film about the killing of his son.
Detainment, a 30-minute short drama, has been tipped as a potential Oscar winner.
It is based on police interviews with Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, the 10-year-olds who kidnapped and murdered two-year-old James in 1993.
Although a number of documentaries have been made about James’s death, the new film is believed to the first drama centred on the brutal killing. James’s father said it would be “horrific” if the film won an Oscar.
Vincent Lambe, the director, did not contact James’s parents, Denise Fergus and Ralph Bulger, before making the movie. When asked why last week, he said: “I think they wouldn’t want a film like this to be made.”
Ralph, 52, has labelled the film “offensive” and claims it is sympathetic towards the killers. He said: “Not once has the maker of this film contacted me or any of James’s family about this film.
“It has been 26 years since my son was taken and murdered and so I have seen many, many documentaries and news Thompson, left, and Venables in 1993. Far right, director Lambe Ralph Bulger, pictured yesterday at the grave of his son James, inset, says the new film is ‘offensive’
stories about him. But I have never been so cut and offended by something that shows so little compassion to James and his family.
“To make a film so sympathetic to James’s killers is devastating. He may consider it to be in the public domain but he is making films and a career from the murder of my son. If the
film-maker had done his research and homework he would see he brings nothing new to the table other than a macabre fascination and obsession about James’s murder. “It will be horrific if this film wins an Oscar or any awards, given the disregard shown to James’s family.”
James was murdered after being lured away from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, by Thompson and Venables. The pair were convicted, then granted lifelong anonymity on release from prison aged 18. Venables, now 36, has since been jailed twice for child porn offences. Albert Kirby, the former detective superintendent who led the investigation, has also criticised the film. He said:
“I think it lacks any form of taste or decency and it has been made without any consideration of the effect on Denise and the family.”
Speaking on Good Morning Britain last week, Irish filmmaker Lambe, 38, said: “A lot of people might feel it’s wrong to humanise those boys, but I think if people can’t accept the fact that they were human beings they will never be able to begin to understand what could have driven them to commit such a crime.”
The 30-minute movie qualified for the Academy Awards long list after winning the Best International Film prize at the Odense International Film Festival in Denmark in August.
Last November James’s mother Denise blasted Channel 5 TV bosses for failing to consult her over a documentary about her son’s death.
She said: “I feel like they consider him their property. He is not a property. He was a little boy and he is mine.”