'Let Him Have It' (1991)
Jun. 25th, 2007 12:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wee_mangoOh yeah, I forgot to mention about this...
Just watched this for the first time last night - absolutely brilliant. I didn't realise it was based on a true story, of mentally retarded Derek Bentley's execution after becoming involved in a gun battle with the police in 1950s England, and ultimately bringing an end to the death penalty in Britain. It made me cry too and Christopher Eccleston's performance as Derek was amazing.
- The scene where Derek's parents and sister Iris visiting him in prison for the last time that features Derek standing up, putting his hand on the glass and his mother matching her hand on the opposite side and walking away leaving Derek with his hand still on the glass crying made me cry. :'(
- It was interesting to see Mark McGann as a gangster type dude dropping the f-bomb now and then LMAO, but what was with the peroxide blonde hair?? *snort* When his character was getting his sentence read out in court, he did a tiny little smirk that reminded me so much of his younger bro Stephen lol. ♥
- Without giving away any spoilers, I found this very similar to The Green Mile although it's a fictional story but nevertheless deals with capital punishment also.
- The music was great too, particularly at the end credits which starts after you see the Bentleys huddled together in front of the fireplace with the clock chiming 9am when Derek is executed. :'( That was heartbreaking. I loved that ending credits music so much I replayed it 3 times. ;) It's beautiful.
- At the end I found myself thinking how could they do that to the guy who had the mental age of a child and who technically wasn't responsible for the murder of PC Sidney Miles; he didn't pull the trigger whereas his 16 year old 'friend' did. I personally thought the whole outcome of the trial was an absolute disgrace, that even though the real killer was given just a 10 year prison sentence, Bentley was sentenced to hang, all because the killer was too young to be killed under British law. And it's a disgrace that it took more than 50 years to get Bentley's name cleared (posthumously) and that it couldn't be done before Bentley's death. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.
- Interesting bits about the crime itself and the death penalty if anyone is interested. ;)
Definitely would recommend this to anyone who opposes the death sentence. Very moving stuff.
9/10.
♥
Just watched this for the first time last night - absolutely brilliant. I didn't realise it was based on a true story, of mentally retarded Derek Bentley's execution after becoming involved in a gun battle with the police in 1950s England, and ultimately bringing an end to the death penalty in Britain. It made me cry too and Christopher Eccleston's performance as Derek was amazing.
- The scene where Derek's parents and sister Iris visiting him in prison for the last time that features Derek standing up, putting his hand on the glass and his mother matching her hand on the opposite side and walking away leaving Derek with his hand still on the glass crying made me cry. :'(
- It was interesting to see Mark McGann as a gangster type dude dropping the f-bomb now and then LMAO, but what was with the peroxide blonde hair?? *snort* When his character was getting his sentence read out in court, he did a tiny little smirk that reminded me so much of his younger bro Stephen lol. ♥
- Without giving away any spoilers, I found this very similar to The Green Mile although it's a fictional story but nevertheless deals with capital punishment also.
- The music was great too, particularly at the end credits which starts after you see the Bentleys huddled together in front of the fireplace with the clock chiming 9am when Derek is executed. :'( That was heartbreaking. I loved that ending credits music so much I replayed it 3 times. ;) It's beautiful.
- At the end I found myself thinking how could they do that to the guy who had the mental age of a child and who technically wasn't responsible for the murder of PC Sidney Miles; he didn't pull the trigger whereas his 16 year old 'friend' did. I personally thought the whole outcome of the trial was an absolute disgrace, that even though the real killer was given just a 10 year prison sentence, Bentley was sentenced to hang, all because the killer was too young to be killed under British law. And it's a disgrace that it took more than 50 years to get Bentley's name cleared (posthumously) and that it couldn't be done before Bentley's death. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.
- Interesting bits about the crime itself and the death penalty if anyone is interested. ;)
Definitely would recommend this to anyone who opposes the death sentence. Very moving stuff.
9/10.
♥
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Date: 2007-06-25 01:55 am (UTC)Yes, definitely worth a look see!
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Date: 2007-06-25 04:55 am (UTC)And I loved Mark's smirk! It was rather chilling, actually! (But I also have no idea what was up with his bleached hair, since it was normal and dark in the rest of the movie!)
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Date: 2007-06-25 03:33 pm (UTC)Yeah, see I thought they would make an exception because Bentley wasn't directly involved and his mental state wasn't 'normal' but the back of the DVD ("The hanging...one of the most jolting scenes in British cinema" - The Independent) kind of gave it away. ;) That didn't make it any less sad though. Eccleston was brilliant too. :D
♥
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Date: 2007-06-25 04:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-25 06:47 pm (UTC)♥
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Date: 2007-06-25 10:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-25 03:21 pm (UTC)♥