The controversial film about the circumstances surrounding the murder of toddler, James Bulger, in Bootle, Merseyside, has been nominated for an award at the Oscars in the 'Sickest Reason For Making A Film' category.
'Detainment' uses police transcripts to depict the investigation after two 10-year-olds, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, murdered 2-year-old James in 1993, after abducting him from the Strand Shopping Centre
Vincent Lambe, the film's director, told reporters that he had made it:
"...in the interest of understanding why it happened, in order to prevent something similar happening again in the future."
He explained:
A bit like war films do. We watch them, taking in all the unpleasantness, all the blood and gore, the unnecessary deaths, the unkindness, the cruelty, the sadness, the sheer lunacy of why wars start in the first place, and then wars don't happen again."
Lambe made his comments after the dead boy's mother, Denise Fergus, had pleaded with him to withdraw it from the Oscars, as it brought back terrible memories for her.
Lambe waved this aside, and was, no doubt, sorry for any inconvenience caused, but 'the show must go on', and the film is the favorite to scoop the prize in the 'Sickest Reason For Making A Film' category.
* This writer hopes that any psychos-in-waiting do not see this film, and, subsequently, decide to partake in some copycatism.
That would be a disaster for Mr Lambe.