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Special Features
- Featurette: Unseen home videos of the Friedmans
- Short film about Jesse Friedman's life today
- Short film by director Andrew Jarecki about children's birthday party clowns, which led to the discovery of David Friedman's story
- Charlie Rose interview with the director
- Questions, answers and heated debates captured by filmmakers and members of the Friedman family
- On-the-scene footage of the altercation with law enforcement officials at the film's New York premiere
- More on the case, including compelling new evidence, witnesses, and uncut footage of the prosecution's star witness and DVD-ROM content
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Product Description
Customer Reviews
The beauty of the film, expressed by Jarecki in both his commentary and in a Charlie Rose interview, is that it finally provides - albeit too late - the fair trial that the Friedmans should have been granted. Whatever the 'truth' of the story is, and we may never really know, the prejudice that was brought to bear on the case by the police, judiciary, the community and the media made it impossible for this most complicated family to be accorded their constitutional rights. We, the audience, are the jury now. Jarecki provides both prosecution and defence cases and we are left to decide the guilt.
Quite apart from the compelling material, which makes this film so much more thrilling than any Hollywood drama of recent memory, the film is beautifully shot. Jarecki exposes evidence carefully so that just when you feel that your mind is made up something is thrown in that broadsides you. Andrea Morricone's beautiful music is the perfect accompaniment to the anguish that the viewer feels throughout this painful quest for the 'truth'. The film's website (capturingthefriedmans.com)is a worthy partner to the film with some unheard audio footage, and is well worth visiting.
This is not quite an enjoyable film - the material too uncomfortable for that - but it is one that should be seen.... Read more ›
The amazing thing about the film is that while we are presented with the "facts" of the case, we realize that we're seeing a sort of real life Rashomon. Everyone has their version of events,and as each version is peeled away, we become angry at a different person and sympathetic for someone we never thought we'd feel sympathy for.
For example, at one point we hear the "testimony" of one of the victim's of the molestation. He gets our sympathy, naturally. Later, when we his interviewed some more and we know a little more about the case, extreme doubt is cast on his story and we begin to feel suspicious towards the investigators. But, just as we might begin leaning towards believing in the innocence of the Friedmans, another bombshell is dropped on us. Towards the end, we really don't know who to believe. It's frustrating not to know anything for sure, but by God, I bet no one leaves this movie not ready to spend a lot of time talking about it and running over it in their heads. It is the most satisfying frustration you can have.
The movie is also a fascinating study of the disintegration of a dysfunctional family. We see the collapse right in front of us, and we see its aftermath many years later. Wow! It's simply amazing to witness the things that were capture by the Friedmans.
The movie is occasionally funny, often aggravating, often strong enough to make our blood boil or run cold...but it is never, ever dull. Truly a wonderful achievement...
... Read more ›It always starts the same: the perfect, upper middle-class family. Arnold and Elaine Friedman have three sons: David, Seth, and Jesse. He is an award winning teacher and well liked in the small community. Everything seems great from the outside. But, somehow, a lead to Arnold Friedman stems from some child pornography being traded through the mail, and that led to finding more about this "happy" family. From then on, it was alleged that Arnold Friedman and his youngest son Jesse, then 18, were molesting boys in their basement during computer classes that Arnold taught.
It goes back and forth over the years. Many of the videos were shot by the Friedmans, as the father and sons were interested in using video cameras for their own entertainment. They all seemed to have a similar sense of humor, and were always joking around with each other. The sons seemed to be each others best friends. As the movie goes on, you become more and more aware of who is going to be there for whom. Enter Elaine Friedman. I had such deep sympathy for this woman. Yes, she had problems of her own. But, to have something like this happen to her family, and then, have her sons constantly gang up on her. There also seemed to be a lack of boundries within the family, as Elaine and Arnold briefly touched on their relationship in front of their sons. What I thought was a little strange: At one point, around the time that Arnold was going to court: they practically filmed their own documentary. They were talking about the case on camera. It's as if their lives centered around their video camera.
... Read more ›
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