Capturing the Friedmans

Directed by: Andrew Jarecki
Featuring:The Friedman Family
Details: 107 mins / Lions Gate / Unrated

It’s all about the truth, about hiding the truth, about distortion of the truth. It’s about people manipulating the truth for their own means. That’s what Capturing the Friedmans is all about - the truth and all the permutations therein. Or at least that’s part of it.

It’s also about the Friedmans and the horrific war that rages among them. Arnold Friedman, the patriarch of the Friedman family, was accused of abusing children in his after-school, home-based computer class. Also implicated in the attacks on the children was the youngest of the three sons, Jesse Friedman. The charges against the two were horrific in scope and detail, tallying to nearly hundreds of charges, running in a variety of offenses. The matter is further complicated by the fact that Arnold Friedman is certainly guilty of something, but whether that guilt extends to the charges that are presented against him and his son is something to be debated.

This is the complicated, confusing mess of a situation that Capturing the Friedmans is based on, but the pure sensation of it is not where the film is based. In interviews and testimonials, it’s clear that no one agrees on anything. Mrs. Friedman is at odds with her sons, her partially guilty husband, the police. The victims can’t even agree whether a crime even took place. The amazing part about it is the staggering variety of different opinions. Thus, the thrust of the movie isn’t the delineation of the events, or even an attempt to reach some kind of meta-truth or revelation as in most documentaries.

As a viewer, you’ll waver between viewpoints as you try to decide who is right and who is wrong about what really happened. It’s clear that the police botched the investigation, that some (but maybe not all) supposed victims are lying about what occurred and that this is a family that is clearly ripped apart at the seams. We know this because shortly after the two were charged with the crimes, older brother David bought a video camera and began to obsessively document nearly every moment and discussion that took place among the family. The camera even started to take up residence at the dinner table, witness to some of the emotional and conflicted feelings of everyone involved.

You come away from Capturing the Friedmans as nearly overwhelmed with all that’s transpired. Your head will spin and if you get the chance to discuss the film with anyone else, you’ll find that you probably won’t agree on a single element of the film. Capturing the Friedmans is an entrancing and amazing documentary. You’ll have no idea where the boundaries of the truth exist.

Movie Grade: A+

Video: 4 out of 5
It’s a nice transfer with most of the scenes shot on film and presented in a nice widescreen format. A few of the scenes seem jarringly out of place with their clarity and bright colors. These sections were shot on video for a completely different film about children’s birthday party entertainers. One people highlighted was David Friedman, whose involvement in that film eventually led director Andrew Jarecki to learn the very disturbing details about his family.
Widescreen Anamorphic: 1.77:1

Audio: 3 out of 5
Given that it’s a documentary, the rear channels aren’t very active except for some musical sections.
English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)

Extras: 5 out of 5
There is simply an amazing amount of comprehensive extras. This disc fully fulfills my need to have a plethora of extras for documentaries and independent films. There are so many extras, that I have to list them:

Disc One:
Trailer
Commentary: The commentary with the director and producer is thoughtful and interesting. Jarecki has an easy-going, approachable style that makes this commentary a joy to listen to.

Disco Two:
Under the section called “The Discussion” are the following:
A nine minute video of a post-viewing discussion in which most of the major figures in the film stand up and debate each other in the audience. It’s really fascinating. This is followed by a ten minute feature of a similar variety in which the City of Great Neck has a post-film discussion. Needless to say, things are a little tense. Finally, there’s a twenty minute interview of Andrew Jarecki from The Charlie Rose Show. Rose is a class-act interviewer that actually lets the people he’s interviewing respond. Finally, there’s a nice little “Video FAQ” that finally puts to rest some of the questions that the people involved with film are constantly asked.

Under the section called “The Case” are about 20 minutes of extras that appear as though they were cut from the film. Broken into four parts, the film has interviews with supposed victims, the police and neighbors. All this makes it quite clear that this case was blown from the word go.

Under the section called: “The Family”, each family member gets their own page with extras highlighting their part of the story. Jesse’s story about being a registered sex offender and fighting to clear his name is pretty fascinating, but more interesting is the entire short film (”Just a Clown” - 20 mins) which the is short film Andrew Jarecki made about David Friedman before embarking on Capturing the Friedmans. It’s a really good short film that works as a great companion piece to the documentary - you can see the sadness and terrible past in David’s eyes as he is interviewed. All told, the extras in this section run about 40 minutes.

That was the good stuff, but there’s a great deal more including a nice feature on the scoring of the film, Arnold Friedman’s music clips during his band days, as well as a plethora DVD-ROM material. Nice haul.

Overall: 5 out of 5
Capturing the Friedmans is one of those films that you’ll want to watch over and over again in an attempt to arrive at some kind of ultimate truth. You won’t get there, but you’ll certainly be enthralled by the journey.

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