Capturing the Friedmans (2003)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Crappy film

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS is one of the most thoroughly engrossing of all the documentaries I've watched. It tells the little-known - at least here in the UK - tale of an ordinary family man, working as a computer teacher at a local high school, who's exposed as a paedophile. What follows is an odyssey of despair and depravity as it turns out family members are involved in an ever-widening circle of crime and deceit.Thankfully, the makers of this documentary had access to reels and reels of 1980s-era home footage from video enthusiast Arnold Friedman, allowing the viewers to get fully drawn into his story. And it's a story full of the usual shocks and twists, one that gets more and more engrossing as time goes on. Moral quandaries are raised, along with the very real possibility of a miscarriage of justice, and the flaws in the American justice system are the most frightening thing on display.CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS has the power to shock you, to disgust you, to make you angry, and, most surprisingly of all, to make you feel sorry for a paedophile. It's one of the most thought-provoking films I've seen, and should be watched in the company of others for the debate that will surely follow a viewing.

I watched this documentary a couple of years ago as it was on UK TV, on first viewing I was horrified at the stuff that transpired about this family, in my mind Arnold and son were guilty, end of. But as a big fan of documentaries that deal with the human psyche, I re- watched it a couple of days ago, I probably paid more attention to it this time and by the end of the documentary I felt SO frustrated because I had NO idea who was telling the truth and who wasn't, my opinion changed completely, I did consider the possibility that maybe public hysteria had sent two innocent men to prison, although I absolutely despise paedophiles and abusers, I wasn't certain after my second viewing if these men had indeed committed those heinous crimes. I went to bed that night and was unable to sleep, I was THAT engrossed in the story and THAT curious, I wanted to make my mind up, reach my own verdict, so I did a bit more research the next day and some more reading on the matter and I finally reached my own conclusion. My personal view is now that the film maker was definitely biased, the comments he makes in the documentary and the interviews he presents were carefully selected, he tries to show Jesse as an innocent person trapped in this scandal, paying for his father's ('minor') sins and omits loads of details about the evidence used to incarcerate him AND Arnold. But after reading on the case I think he is as guilty as sin, his personality as described by the psychologist who analysed him trying to work on his defence fits perfectly with the way a person who was abused as a child by a parent and with a distorted view of the world, of what's right or wrong, would be like, once grown up. Obviously, he is a victim too, because his actions as a young man were only the result of his twisted upbringing. For those of you interested in the full picture, Jesse's case was recently reviewed (June 2013) and you can read the full transcript with all the details of this case, evidence and statements provided here: http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/DA/NewsReleases /2013/documents/Conviction-Integrity-Review-People-v- Jesse-Friedman-FINAL.pdfAll in all, I found this documentary thrilling, the only people I felt for were Arnold's wife, Elaine who had to endure the bullying behaviour from her husband and sons most of her life and Arnold's brother, Howard, who seemed sincere and well meaning and who was a victim too. David, the older brother was extremely irritating in his blind loyalty towards his father and brother, I kept shaking my head at how intense and stubborn he was in denying anything inappropriate at all ever happened, even when Arnold himself had already confessed, putting full blame on to his long suffering mother. I guess you can understand his upset, but I wonder if anyone at all, after watching this documentary, would really hire him as a clown for their children's parties. Who would want him around their kids?! Even if HE himself didn't commit a crime, with his family history who would want to take the risk? Why did he choose that specific profession? It is unfortunate that he would choose to work around little kids. Another thing that I was left wondering was... Why did Arnold apparently only abuse the youngest son? Did he ever try it with Seth or David? If so, could they have blocked it out of their minds too like Howard did? This documentary definitely makes you think and for that I give it 7 stars, I would have given it more if the maker had not been SO biased in favour of Jesse, and Arnold to some extent. A must see!

A remarkably well crafted documentary takes us straight to Creepytown USA, and we can't wait to ask the tour guide questions.Capturing the Friedmans is not so much a search for truth, as it is a portrait of illness itself, and how it transmits through individual to family and on to the community at Large. The family's ordeal was recorded by both the lenses of the media and their own movie cameras. Building with this footage, director Andrew Jarecki shows us the Friedmans.Arnold, uses his home video as a document of his progress beyond dysfunction. At times, the home video footage almost seems like amateur propaganda. Almost as if the Friedmans were trying to manufacture their own evidence. Creating the facade of a whole family.Most of the people interviewed seem to have their own agendas as well. Especially the police.Evidence and opinion layers, it fascinates and frustrates. frustratingly — inconclusive ways. The only clear answer in "Friedmans" was that they collapsed under decades of secrets and dysfunction.This film also glimpses the effects social pressure, mob mentality and stigma have on truth. We must also question the reliability of the human memory as evidence.

Seemingly ordinary family in the Great Neck suburb of Long Island, New York are torn apart by child molestation allegations, which may or may not have been fabricated by underage witnesses coerced by the authorities. A retired teacher-turned-computer instructor is put in the legal hot-spot after a underage pornographic magazine is delivered to him undercover; his students are then interviewed for any possible misconduct, and soon the married father of three and his youngest son are arrested on sex abuse charges. Quietly devastating documentary from Andrew Jarecki weaves both vintage and recent home movie footage of the family with revealing interviews of the former Friedman matriarch (who had fallen out of love with her accused husband and failed to stand by him) and two of her sons. Jarecki is very careful not to paint the 'victims' as villains but, in trying to be somewhat non-subjective, he clouds some of the legal ramifications in mystery (why is the son's attorney completely contradicting his client's statements? Is the attorney lying--and if so, what did he have to gain?). Eldest son David tries so hard to be the voice of reason--while feeling victimized himself--that he inadvertently becomes the star of the movie, the glue which is barely holding the family together. It's a portrait of lives destroyed by contagious hysteria...and by personal demons and repressed sexuality. The film is by turns tragic, unfair, rueful, frustrating, incredibly human, and incredibly moving. *** from ****