He doesn’t really look sixteen…
Right again!
This is one of those true crime movies.
*gasp*
I think this is sourced from video? (The over-sharpening “echoes” is a dead giveaway.) Perhaps it was even filmed on video? Ah, the booklet says that it was transferred from a digibeta (!) copy of the original 2″ PAL transmission tape. What on earth is digibeta?
Ah, it’s something that was invented in the 90s. I guess the BBC did the PAL tape -> digibeta transfer back then to preserve this? And then the BFI used that copy to make this bluray.
I mean, this doesn’t look bad, but it looks unusual.
This is mostly a courtroom drama? But not very dramatic?
This movie is kinda cheating — we first saw what “really happened”, and then we’re watching the trial, where the coppers are lying their heads off about what we’ve already seen. So there no doubt in the viewers’ minds about anything, so the movie is a bit pointless? I guess we can sit here stewing about coppers lying, and the horrible judge, but…
It’s not very efficient as propaganda either because we’re not given a reason to trust that the filmmakers knew what “really happened”.
Fuck this guy!
OK, the last hour is going to be a voiceover laying out all the reasons why Bentley is innocent? I’m convinced! But… OK, I guess it’s a good thing that the BBC showed a film like this that makes it so clear that cops lie?
But at this remove, at least, this is not thrilling to watch.
It’s confusing that they’re using aged-up pics of the actors as if they’re actual snaps of the people involved.
This movie could have been a book. And it was!
I don’t really know how to throw the die on this one. The final scenes are really powerful, and I guess this could be seen as an important movie in some ways. But… I didn’t really get much out of watching it. So:
To Encourage The Others. Alan Clarke. 1972. ⚂
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