Detainment TRUE STORY: How was CONTROVERSIAL James Bulger film made – is it accurate?

Detainment’s writer-director Vincent Lambe’s based the movie Detainment on the true story of the murder of James Bulger. James Bulger was a two-year-old boy who was abducted in the UK in 1993 and was found murdered two days later. But what shocked the public most was the main suspects themselves.

How was Detainment made?

Many movies based on true stories often take liberties with the truth.

But according to Vincent Lambe, Detainment was fundamentally based on the actual interview transcripts from the James Bulger case.

Most of the 30-minute film is made by recreating police interviews from the case – although some key scenes that took place outside the courtroom were dramatised.

Lambe said: “The James Bulger case affected me in the same way it has affected millions of others and it breaks my heart to think of what the Bulger family has gone through.

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“Detainment, the short film I directed, is based on interview transcripts and records and it is entirely factual with no embellishments whatsoever.

“It was never intended to bring any further anguish to the family of James Bulger, but rather to examine why children commit serious crimes.

“The film is in no way sympathetic to the killers and does not attempt to make excuses for their horrendous actions.

“There has been criticism that the film ‘humanises’ the killers, but if we cannot accept that they are human beings, we will never begin to understand what could have driven them to commit such a horrific crime.

“The only way to prevent something similar happening in the future is if we understand the cause of it.

“Representing the boys as human beings is a true reflection of what happened at the time, during the events depicted in the film, and must remain a legitimate subject for discussion in a grown-up society that wants to prevent crime and understand how trauma and troubled childhoods can lead to serious crimes being committed by children, young people and adults.”

The director and his film have received plenty of backlash – particuarly after Detainment was nominated for an Oscar despite protests from James Bulger’s family.

James’ mother Denise Fergus had called for Detainment to be withdrawn following its nomination in the best live action short category.

And an online petition calling on the film to be dropped from the Academy Awards has attracted more than 100,000 signatures.

But the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said while they took her concerns “very seriously”, the academy maintains a “neutral role” in the voting process and applied their “own judgement” on the film’s merits.

In a statement, the academy said it “offers its deepest condolences to Ms Fergus and her family. We are deeply moved and saddened by the loss that they have endured, and we take their concerns very seriously.”

Lambe also hit back at those trying to have the film withdrawn, saying the film was made sensitively.

Lambe said in a statement: “While the information in the film has been public knowledge for a very long time, there were a lot of details that we chose not to include.

“I thought about it a lot because it is such a sensitive story and wanted to ensure that it was respectful to the family of James Bulger and responsibly made without showing any graphic details.

“Contrary to [former Detective Superintendent Albert] Kirby’s remarks, the film clearly shows the boys detained in a very hospitable environment and the detectives are shown to be gentle in their questioning of the boys.

“We did a lot of research regarding the interview rooms and the procedure.

“The positioning of the table and the detectives was important to us. In order to make the interview procedure less intimidating for the boys, the table was pushed aside and the group sat around it in a semi-circle.

“It is an important detail which a lot of other reconstructions have missed.

“The boys were treated with great care by the police and others during and after their interviews and the film shows this.”

source: express.co.uk