The opening scene of this film has slow piano solo music playing, with white
Credits on a black background to show that the film is serious. It is actually a drama documentary, which means that as well as being dramatic the film is also factual.
From the start of the film, Peter Medak chose to present Derek Bentley as a victim. The first thing in the film that you see is a high angled shot of Derek trapped under the rubble of a building with fire, destruction and panic going on around him. This gives you the feeling of entrapment. Another reason why Derek is potrayed as a victim is because he has epilepsy with a mental age of about eleven or twelve. His real age is nineteen. He has a fit after being released from the rubble, and there is a close-up of his face. Throughout the film Derek has three epileptic fits which are shown in great detail. You can see the amount of pain and discomfort he is feeling because of this.
The loud and booming music also adds to the mighty effect.
At school the head teacher says, "Derek is easily prayed to bad influences".
Derek has low self-esteem and he doesn't go out for about a year because he is depressed and under stress. He is still given comics and this shows his low intelligence and mental age.
Derek and his sister are very close and she tries to do everything for him. His dad takes care of him too. When Derek puts some music on he starts dancing like a child and him and his sister dance and sing but Derek can't remember the words and he gets frustrated, like children do.
Derek meets Chris Craig at a railway. He is wearing black gangster like clothes and from first meeting him Chris tricks and confuses Derek, by pointing the gum at his head, but he also impresses him, like when he pretends to kill himself by jumping in front of a train. Derek's house is shown as a cosy family home but Chris's home must be different. It