James Bulger's father slams film about son's murder for being 'too sympathetic' towards the killers
The father of murdered toddler James Bulger had lashed out at the producers of a film that was made about his son's murder. His complaint being that they did not reach out to the family first. Ralph Bulger called 'Detainment', which is a short film that has now been tipped as a potential Oscar winner, "offensive" and also claimed that it was too sympathetic to the pair of boys who attacked his child in 1993. The 30-minute film is based on police interviews with the murderers, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who were both only 10-years-old at the time when they kidnapped and killed 2-year-old James.
52-year-old Ralph told Mirror Online: "Not once has the maker of this film contacted me or any of James’ family about this film. It has been 26 years since my son was taken and murdered and so I have seen many documentaries and news stories about him. But I have never been so cut up and offended by something that shows so little compassion to James and his family. I accept this is a murder of such magnitude it will always be written about and featured in the news but to make a film so sympathetic to James’s killers is devastating."