A remarkable film

relwes

Capturing the Friedmans is an extraordinary documentary about a family collapsing, when the otherwise respectable Arnold Friedman is discovered in possession of child-pornography. Subsequently he and his son Jesse are charged with hundreds and hundreds of counts of child-molestation. This is a fascinating, tragic, and complex subject for a documentary, and this film is brilliantly made.

It contains no narrative voice, nor does is seek to come to any firm conclusions. The story is developed through interviews with the people involved (members of the family, lawyers, police, the judge, former victims and their families, relevant experts,...) and these various characters often give sharply conflicting versions of events, so much so that the viewer is left seriously wondering how much truth there ever was in the charges against Arnold and Jesse. At the very least the police investigation seems to have been conducted with disastrous ineptitude. But if this is a miscarriage of justice, it's not a clear-cut one: Arnold really was a paedophile, albeit a very likable one, and he may, or he may not have abused Jesse as a child, (subject to whether you believe Jesse or his lawyer). It's the desire to know the truth (which we never can), and to separate out these tortuous issues, which really sucks the viewer in.

However what makes Capturing the Friedmans so remarkable and unique is that long before director Andrew Jarecki took an interest in the case, David Friedman (another of Arnold's sons) was already there in the thick of it, filming everything. Through his camcorder we intrude on the privacy of a family in crisis: for instance we really see the unbearable strain it has to endure as Arnold prepares for his trial. Later we see him bravely enjoying his last night of freedom. The family is blown apart in front of our eyes, you won't have seen anything like it.

Throughout the film I had the feeling that even without the child-abuse charges, a film about the Friedmans would still have been worth watching. Certainly they were a interestingly dysfunctional group anyway: take the unsatisfactory relationship Elaine (Arnold's wife) had towards her husband and sons. All the characters are lively and charismatic individuals, and in happier circumstances you feel this could have been a funny and charming film: this adds to the sense of loss though, because this film is neither funny nor charming. Whatever the truth about the allegations of abuse, this film is the uncompromising and riveting human story of a family being dragged through a living hell.

score 10/10

relwes 3 February 2005

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1013151/