MovieChat Forums > Let Him Have It Discussion > The machine?

The machine?

posted 15 years ago by oh_Lilibet
4 replies | jump to latest

I missed the first twenty minutes of the movie, so I'm not sure if this was covered in it.
What was the machine they hooked Derek up to at his service medical exam?

I was also wondering about the Tv set in Derek's house(the scene right after Christopher's brother was sentenced)is that some sort of a projection tele?

The old saying miscarriage of justice fails here it was a late term back alley abortion!

It blows my mind that Christopher Craig only got 10 years in jail!
I fully understand that he was 16 at the time of the crime, but he was the one with the gun and the one SHOOTING the gun(I do realize that David Yallop has put out a rather convincing case that Craigs gun is not the gun that killed PC Miles. So I will leave it at that)

I've seen some posts through here saying people feel sorry for him because he was 16. I'm sorry at 16 I was working 30+ hours a week,going to school and if I so much as back talked my parents I would have been picking up my teeth from the floor.
So you can not tell me a 16 year old does not know its A- wrong to have a gun and B- Shoot at a damn cop(or anyone)!
If anyone should have been given mercy on the grounds he did not understand that it was DEREK BENTLEY!
I just cant get my mind around this case.

I knew about the case and have been sickened by the story, but I did not think the movie would hit me the way it did.
I guess seeing it played out in such a fashion makes it very human and real to me even through I was not born until 32 years after. Showing the events after the trial were something else
Maybe I'm foolish but I feel very,very sad after watching this,it's totally put me in a mood
This movie really blew me away, words fail me.

[–] Altho73 15 years ago

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'What was the machine they hooked Derek up to at his service medical exam?'
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Derek was an epileptic, he had a certificate to prove it and as such was ineligible for military service. The machine was a device that could read brain patterns and therby provide inconclusive proof that Derek was indeed an epileptic (the epileptic test was a particularly painful and distressing experience)

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'I was also wondering about the Tv set in Derek's house(the scene right after Christopher's brother was sentenced)is that some sort of a projection tele?'
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Just a normal 1950's TV set.

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'It blows my mind that Christopher Craig only got 10 years in jail!
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That wasn't his sentence, he was actually sentenced to be detained in prison 'at her Majesty's pleasure' which meant until it had been ascertained by the prison authorities that he was a reformed character and was fit to be returned to normal life as a respectable citizen.

Prisons back then were much harder and stricter that they are now and to be fair to the prison authorities they got it right in this case because Chris Craig became a reformed character, he made a successful career as a plumber, married and raised kids and was never involved in any sort of trouble again.

[–] oh_Lilibet 15 years ago

Thanks so much!

"Prisons back then were much harder and stricter that they are now"

I'm starting to come to that understanding with some further research.

"If Liza is wrong, then I don't want to know what right is." --Peter Griffin

[–] Jazzie123 14 years ago

'I was also wondering about the Tv set in Derek's house(the scene right after Christopher's brother was sentenced)is that some sort of a projection tele?'
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Just a normal 1950's TV set.

Actually, it wasn't. It is a type of tv from the 30's, and must have been an affordable "second-hand" for this not too well off family:

http://images.google.nl/imgres?imgurl=http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold/archiv/TV/marconi/img/702.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold/archiv/TV/tv_e.htm&usg=__lk_FFqwZSA_5XvwtzFO1bC6J-dM=&h=1166&w=815&sz=142&hl=nl&start=6&sig2=rFmPOIHAsguRcELVbP2drA&itbs=1&tbnid=XtLP6kF093MmPM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=105&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmarconi%2B%252B%2Bmirror%2B%252B%2Btelevision%26hl%3Dnl%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=uSnZS7CLH8zx-Qa-1e3ODQ

[–] tgrrrsss 14 years ago

It's interesting to note that throughout 20th Century Great britain if somebody avoided the Death Penalty or was repreieved most of them - only served 10-15 years at the most.