The mother of James Bulger has said she is “angry and upset” that ‘Detainment’, the short film about her son’s murder, has been nominated for an Oscar.
‘Detainment’, one of the five shortlisted in the Best Live Action Short category, is based on the real transcripts of interviews with James’ killers, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables.
Written and directed by Vincent Lambe, it dramatises those interviews with actors playing James and the boys who abducted and murdered him in the early 1990s.
The short film was praised by critics last year but Denise has vocally disapproved of it, and following its recognition at the Oscars, she’s reiterated her statement that it was made without the approval of her family.
“I cannot express how disgusted and upset I am at this so called film that has been made and now nominated for an Oscar,” she tweeted.
“It’s one thing making a film like this without contacting or getting permission from James family but another to have a child re-enact the final hours of James’s life before he was brutally murdered and making myself and my family have to relive this all over again!
“After everything I’ve said about this so called film and asking for it to be removed, it’s still been nominated for an Oscar even though over 90,000 people have signed a petition which has now been ignored just like my feelings by the Academy.
“I’m so angry and upset at this present time. I personally want to thank everyone that has signed the petition up to now and hopefully will carry on supporting me in this.
“I just hope the film doesn’t win its category in the Oscars.”
Filmmaker Vincent Lambe has previously said the production was careful to be sensitive and respectful of the Bulger family.
He said: “While the information in the film has been public knowledge for a very long time, there were a lot of details that we chose not to include.
“I thought about it a lot because it is such a sensitive story and wanted to ensure that it was respectful to the family of James Bulger and responsibly made without showing any graphic details.”
James’ killers were 10 years when they abducted the two-year-old from the Bootle Strand shopping centre before carrying out the murder which shocked the nation.
The two boys were jailed for life but released on licence with new identities in 2001.
Venables then had numerous other brushes with the law and last year, he was jailed again, after pleading guilty to having indecent images of children.