| CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS |
 2003
- USA
Director: Andrew Jarecki - Reviewed by Frank 
In the age of reality television, where geeky men are ridiculed on Average Joe and D-list celebrities can gain exposure for being annoying, we as a country have come to accept watching the lives of others as acceptable entertainment. It’s a new level of voyeurism, worse than anything we’ve ever seen before. Yet audiences, myself included, often find said programming fascinating and fun to watch. Watching the behavior of others through the eyes of the camera lens can surely be the only way to truly examine our own lives. Thus, we become the stereotypical black musician on the Real World or the crusty old racist on Survivor. We align ourselves with stereotypes to find an ultimate truth.
But what if there is no truth? What if no simple character definition exists? This is the terrifying question Andrew Jarecki poses in his outstanding documentary film Capturing the Friedmans. He turns the reality TV genre on its head and makes it a credible art form. The audience becomes the ultimate intruders in the Friedman’s situation; they’re present for every tear, laugh, and awkward moment. The experience, however, isn’t fun at all. It’s a haunting experience that forces you to examine deep-set beliefs of guilt, family, and law. It is the film event of the year. The Friedmans are a typical Jewish middle class Long Island family. Dad Arnold is a teacher who conducts weekend computer classes in the basement. Mom Elaine takes care of their three sons, David, Seth, and Jesse, who treat her at best with contempt. They form their family identity from their love for the father and their hatred for the mother. When a police sting discovers mounds of child pornography hidden in the walls of the house, Arnold is taken under investigation. Soon children who took his computer classes are talking to the police. Charges are filed against Arnold and youngest son Jesse, accusing them of sodomizing more than twenty young boys in the basement of their home. What would appear at first to be a clear-cut case of evil punished turns marvelously into a perplexing mystery halfway through the film. That’s when the testimonies start to conflict. Most of the children admitted to their abuse under psychohypnosis, a method long since discredited, and there is no physical evidence in the case. Other questions arise, such as why no one said anything until the police went looking. It piles up into something that no family would be able to handle without being as close knit as possible. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for the Friedmans. Elaine refuses to side with the kids, saying she doesn’t know whether her husband committed the crimes or not. This rips the family apart. The most chilling aspect of the film is the use of real home movies from the family. All the Friedman men were avid video camera users, and they filmed their entire ordeal, arguments, arrests, and trials for personal use. Jarecki uses this footage in an attempt to bring to light what really happened, but things just get more confused. Guaranteed to gauge a different reaction with every single moviegoer that sits for two hours under its spell, Capturing the Friedmans is a triumph for the documentary genre and a fabulous first feature for Moviefone creator Andrew Jarecki. |
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