Sympathy for Derek Bentley in the Film Let Him Have It

Sympathy for Derek Bentley in the Film Let Him Have It

This films tells us the story of 19 year old Derek Bentley & 16 year

old Christopher Craig. The story is about the miscarriage of justice,

which leads to Derek Bentley getting hanged for a crime he did not

commit.

The story was set in 1952 in London. Derek Bentley was charged with

the murder of pc Sidney Miles even though he did not shoot the

officer, Christopher Craig did. The reason Peter Medak made the film

was to prove that the death penalty was wrong & maybe to help clear

Bentley’s name.

At the start of the film was to the camera goes through the streets of

London at the time of the war with devastation all around. Then you

see the young Iris, Derek’s sister yelling for help & pulling bricks

from a pile of rubble. We then see Derek’s face &as the camera closes

in we see Derek is having an epileptic fit. In the background it

starts playing a slow, sad piano solo.

The next scene starts with a close up of Derek’s face. In this scene

he is about 14 years old & he’s with three boys. They end up getting

caught, but the three boys run away & leave Derek alone, which shows

Bentley is not clever enough to get away & it also makes us feel sorry

for him. He then has another fit in front of the man who owns the

shed, the man who starts off being angry, immediately tries to help

him. At that point the camera closes on Derek’s face. This is one of

several scenes, which shows Bentley suffering an epileptic fit. This

emphasises Bentley’s suffering & gains our sympathy.

When Bentley first meets Craig down on the train tracks. Craig

pretends to jump in the way of a train & Bentley thinks he really

jumped which makes you think that Bentley is childlike & naïve & is

easily fooled.

Before Bentley & Craig has to persuade Bentley to go on the roof