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| Capturing
the Friedmans
Directed By: Andrew
Jarecki Plot
Summary - Review 1 - Review
2 - CURRENT REVIEWS
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| Documentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middleclass Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes. [TRAILER] In many ways, "Capturing the Friedmans" is a movie that exemplifies the popular theory that fact is often stranger than fiction. About an average family torn apart in 1987 with the discovery of child pornography and allegations of child molestation, "Friedmans" is a surreal mix of passive documentary and active investigation. Director Andrew Jarecki, who deserves most of the credit for this shocking documentary, walks the line between past and present perfectly, creating a whirlwind of pervasive mystery and blurred clarity that is endlessly engaging. It starts with some of the family’s home videos showing, on the surface, the ideal American family - three boys and happy parents living in a prosperous area with everything to feel good about. But then, after authorities intercept child pornography bound for the family’s father, a search warrant yields a most disturbing discovery: stacks of child porn, often involving young children, hidden in the basement. As if this were not shocking enough, it turns out the father is teaching computer classes to local children. As police spread out to interview neighbors, curious if this obsession with young boys led to direct acts, they find numerous allegations of disturbing misconduct. The father is arrested, the family’s oldest son is arrested and the Friedmans find themselves in utter chaos. But just as this film seems to choose a direction, and just as the audience thinks it has deciphered the complex and disturbing facts of the case, Jarecki begins throwing one wrench after another into his seemingly logical documentary machine. In returning to the case, years after it was decided, and interviewing the participants, several facts become clear. Neither the father nor the son believed they were guilty. There is evidence that police intimidated suspects into fabricating allegations of sexual misconduct. The father may have had a sexual relationship with his brother in his childhood. He also wrote a long letter of sexual fantasies to an investigative reporter. Some of the claims against both father and son seem impossible, given the witnesses present at the time and the short time span of Friedman’s computer classes. Most disturbing of all, many victims now interviewed seem to only remember the moments of misconduct through hypnosis - proven to be a misleading and dangerous means of recalling memories. It is an amazingly murky story, but it remains intriguing thanks to Jarecki’s approach. He sees the sickness apparent in the Friedman home, but he is also open to the notion that the law may be far from infallible. Jarecki is always conscious of the real tragedy obvious in this drama - the destruction of a family. Through interviews with everyone in the Friedman family, save one son who did not wish to participate, and through a surprising wealth of home videos from a technology-obsessed family, broken hearts, emotions and memories are peppered through this crime mystery. If there is a flaw with this film, it is its pacing. Jarecki clearly believes that the audience needs time to digest some of the film’s facts, but these voids are filled with rather arbitrary stock footage of the family’s surrounding area. And, as the story shifts from one point of view to another, one cannot help but be removed, albeit briefly, from the story. Rather than pausing the story dead in its tracks, Jarecki could have used these moments as a point of contrast, showing yet another superficial picture of this perfect family to make the true evil running beneath the surface that much more disconcerting. What really happened in the case of the Friedmans? I have my theory; you will too. But one thing is undeniable: it’s a riveting mystery worth exploring.   Check out Reviews, Commentary, and More at Zertinet.com |
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