Based on a true story which tells a British miscarriage of justice , which contributed to the abolishment of death penalty in the country ,the movie is first an extraordinary performance by great character actor Christopher Eccleston : it's not an easy job to portray an epileptic mentally retarded young man ,with a mind of an eleven-year-old ;in the first part ,Peter Medak insists on his deficiencies in his every day life: the song he's unable to remember ,the scenes in the shops ,the boy rejected by school,the army -which is a shame for the father-. But mainly an easily influenced boy whose way unfortunately crosses his evil genius' .
One may go on the fateful double-entendre sentence for a long time ,but anyway it's that of a boy with an IQ of 66. The judge is deaf to the plea of the member of the jury who asks for the extenuating circumstances ;the first scene when the young boy is buried under the rubble is impressive when one knows what life has in store for him.
Eccleston gets extremely strong support by Tom Courtenay and Eileen Atkins as his parents .
One may go on the fateful double-entendre sentence for a long time ,but anyway it's that of a boy with an IQ of 66. The judge is deaf to the plea of the member of the jury who asks for the extenuating circumstances ;the first scene when the young boy is buried under the rubble is impressive when one knows what life has in store for him.
Eccleston gets extremely strong support by Tom Courtenay and Eileen Atkins as his parents .