Capturing the Friedmans  (2003)

Starring: Arnold Friedman, Jesse Friedman, Elaine Friedman, David Friedman, Howard Friedman

Director: Andrew Jarecki

Rating: R

Distributor: HBO Home Video

Release Date: January 27, 2004
Review posted: January 24, 2004

Spoilers: Major

Reviewed by Dennis Landmann

SYNOPSIS

Despite their predilection for hamming it up in front of home-movie cameras, the Friedmans were a normal middle-class family living in the affluent New York suburb of Great Neck. Yet one day police officers knocked on their door and arrested both father Arnold and son Jesse on charges of child molestation. The film follows their story from the public's perspective and through unique real footage of the family in crisis, shot inside the Friedman house. As the police investigate, and the community reacts, the fabric of the family begins to disintegrate, revealing provocative questions about truth, justice, family, and truth.

CRITIQUE

Before you begin to read this, you should know I'm going to discuss the film, the people it features, and the events it depicts. Those of you who don't want to know certain things about the film should skip to the "final thoughts" section of this DVD review to get an idea how very good this film is.

The tagline for Andrew Jarecki's Capturing the Friedmans reads, "Who do you believe?" The question is certainly very relevant in the case of this documentary, but it's also a question that cannot be easily answered. One would have to conjure up all the evidence, testimonies and background, and then make a decision based on either believability, feelings, or the straight facts. If this doesn't sound very satisfactory, you're right. The fact of the matter is, with this film the questions that fit more likely would be, who do you "want", "can", or "should" believe, or variations of those words. To get a better sense of things, let me give you the basic facts of the case against Arnold and Jessie Friedman.

Arnold was a respected teacher who one day started up a computer class with the help of his son Jesse. They taught a group of kids once a week how to work with and play games on the computer. One day Arnold was arrested by police at his home on charges of obtaining and owning magazines of child pornography. The postal service investigated him after intercepting a package from the Netherlands containing pornographic material. Police later arrived at his home with a search warrant and found a stack of magazines hidden behind a piano inside Arnold's basement office.

This lead the sexual crimes unit of the local police department to investigate Arnold's tendencies further, eventually interviewing the children attending his class. Based on the children's testimonies, which were tremendously horrific and heinous, Arnold and Jesse were arrested on numerous counts of child molestation and sodomy. Despite maintaining their innocence, there was nothing they could do to change the fact that their family was falling apart. Jessie and his two brothers, David and Seth, didn't really get a long with their mother Elaine. The marriage between Arnold and Elaine was crumbling, and got even worse after the arrest. Against the infuriated community (parents) of Great Neck, the prosecution, and the police, the only support the Friedmans had came from inside themselves, yet Elaine just didn't know where to stand on the matter of her husband.

The important thing for you to know, which no one questions or argues in the film, is that Arnold Friedman liked boys. As we find out through the interview with wife Elaine, as a young boy Arnold experimented with his sexuality in ways many of us would think bizarre, yet his situation was different. Living with his younger brother and mother inside a one-room basement apartment, he was regularly exposed to sexual acts between his mother and her boyfriend(s). Well, without giving away any more, let's just say Arnold was a pedophile, something he admitted and went to therapy for. With that information, you might get an idea of his fantasies in regards to boys, yet this doesn't mean to imply he behaved in such manners in the presence of his three sons. After getting caught for reading magazines about child pornography, his secret got out and it destroyed not only him but his whole family. Such is the tragic story of Capturing the Friedmans, which gives viewers an intimate portrait of the drama and hysteria experienced by an ordinary American family.

Director Andrew Jarecki begins the documentary with the postal service event, and throughout the film provides more and more background information about the Friedmans, specifically Arnold, the molestation case, the evidence, and the thoughts of the major people who were involved in the case, including Arnold's brother Howard, the postal inspector, now retired director of the police sex crimes unit, the assistant district attorney, the judge, an investigative journalist (who brought up a few interesting arguments), a police officer, attorneys for both Arnold and Jesse, and others. However, the main focus of the documentary is bringing the story of the Friedman family to light.

Through interviews, and perhaps testimonies, the audience gets to know the family in a way that is both intriguing and compelling. It's interesting how well I think I knew these people after watching the film, but also how they were perceived by others. I think viewers will either be very involved with them and the story, or be turned off. Make no mistake, child molestation and sodomy is heinous, and I felt a little discomforting while watching some of this stuff. Nevertheless, Capturing the Friedmans is compelling and involving.

Jarecki makes very frequent use of footage from the family's many home movies to tell their story in a more visually-compelling way. The home movies mainly feature the family on vacation and sometimes they record get-togethers or talk into the camera. One particular video is David's diary and Jarecki uses an excerpt in two areas of the film, one towards the beginning and the second towards the end. Both excerpts are captivating, yet they also carry a sense of sadness and hopelessness for David. At another point in the film we get to see footage of Arnold and his sons inside their home at the time of the trial where they discuss certain issues. Given the family's tendency to document events in their lives with the camera, these scenes are absolutely real and quite compelling to see, especially because we see them dealing with problems as they happen, as opposed to hearing about them after the fact. Usually the interviews set up some of those scenes, but they're always an incredible insight into the actual "life" of this family.

I could talk a lot more about the home movies, what they contain, and how they relate to the documentary, but I figure you get the impact of them by now. Let me instead focus on the interviews with the people involved in the events from all sides. Some of the information coming out of the interviews contradict each other. The police officers maintain their story is correct, while Jessie is determined to prove the charges against him are untrue. I say "story" because every person interprets and remembers events differently, and one might question the absolute validity of each sentence or word from these people. Many topics in the film are deeply personal, and talking about them must've been tough for everyone, including one former student from the computer class who chose to be interviewed in a mostly dark room.

At a later point in the documentary I couldn't help but notice a sense of irony coming from interviews with several people. The former student interviewed describes the molestation and sodomy games played during class, and how Arnold and Jesse raped him. Later you would see Jessie denying those things every taking place while he was there. Now I'm not looking to make one person look bad, instead I'm puzzled as to how incredibly dissimilar the aspects of this case are. I guess the main question is, how valid are the charges? Are they exaggerated? Are they genuine or falsified? How reliable are the testimonies of the kids? What really did happen, or what did not happen? Any of these questions are compelling in terms of learning what might be the real truth.

Capturing the Friedmans is not really intent on finding the answers, although something inside me would think a filmmaker like Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine) or Nick Broomfield (Biggie & Tupac) would ask more direct questions and force some of the issues. Instead the film hints at discrepancies in the prosecution's case against Arnold and Jesse. In fact, there are several passages where one might argue the whole legitimacy of the charges. As Jesse argues for his case, these children never said a word about being molested or sodomized to their parents or anyone else until they were interviewed by police. Interestingly, it seems the approach used by police was more "this happened, didn't it", which was implying, as opposed to "what or did anything happen?", which seems much more effective and rational in a case like this, especially concerning children.

Hell, I could be here until tomorrow, so I'm just going to end the review at this point. I think by now you get the whole picture, or perhaps you know too much already and I've spoiled the film for you. Then again, I stated this would be more of a discussion than a review. In one sentence, Capturing the Friedmans is a compelling and intimate portrait of a family who experienced an event that forever changed their lives.

THE VIDEO

HBO presents Capturing the Friedmans in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. The video ranges from actual film to home video footage of the Friedmans, which ranges from 8mm to 16mm film. The quality of the home video footage is fine, and as one would expect there is less clarity and detail, yet in the overall sense it looks fine. Grain is evident in most shots, but that's alright, and some specks also appear. Actual documentary footage looks quite nice, with some nice colors and good detail. Sharpness looks good, but sometimes the picture is a tad bit soft. A few specks occur here also, but none are distracting. Black levels and dark tones are fine during the fade out transitions in the film. Overall, this is a pretty good presentation that speaks to the material.

THE AUDIO

HBO presents Capturing the Friedmans in English 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. The audio is mostly front-heavy, seeing as how most of the film consists of interviews. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand as far as the documentary footage is concerned. Some pieces of conversation in the home video footage is a little quiet and hard to make out, but small white subtitles make up for it. Andrea Morricone's effective score is handled nicely in this soundtrack presentation, with some passages penetrating the soundfield a little bit. Surrounds are not necessarily active throughout the show, the rear speakers rarely give off minor sounds. Essentially, with this being a documentary film, I didn't expect anything extraordinary in terms of audio, but HBO's presentation is just fine considering the material.

An English Dolby Surround track is also available.

THE EXTRAS

This release could've easily been barebones if it weren't for the people who lead discussions inside theaters after the showings, which Andrew Jarecki attended. So here we are with a 2-disc set DVD that is quite loaded with bonus material.

In fact, Andrew Jarecki and the filmmaking crew went back to shoot new things, score, and edit for a period of six months to create this set. As stated by Jarecki in the DVD's press release attachment, "With [the discussions] in mind, we decided that the DVD for 'Capturing the Friedmans' would have to address all these issues directly. In this way, the DVD could be customized to the audience." Great idea!

If you were were intrigued by the film, you'll definitely want to check out the wealth of additional information and footage on disc 2, but let's go in order. First and foremost, let me tell you the menus are very creative and scored beautifully by Andrea Morricone.

The extras start off on disc 1 with an informative and interesting audio commentary by director Andrew Jarecki and editor/co-producer Richard Hankin. They delve into many subjects, like dealing with the Friedmans and the production, which took over three years. Also discussed are production issues and experiences, as well as background information and their thoughts about the film. Overall, a very engaging track that's highly recommended.

Disc 2, or otherwise referred to as "Capturing the Friedmans - Outside the Frame", is broken down into several sections.

The Discussion:

An Altercation at the New York Premiere (9:21) happens at the Tribeca Film Festival during the discussion of the film after the screening. Several audience members pose questions and exchange arguments to and with the filmmakers, the people of the prosecution (investigators, judge, prosecutors, etc), and David Friedman.

The Judge Speaks Out (6:15) takes place at the film's premiere in Great Neck. At a post-screening discussion Judge Abbey Boklan gives her reaction. Andrew Jarecki defends the film by answering her criticism that the film omitted critical information in regards to the Friedmans and their guilt.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (6:19) starts off with a text menu listing several questions. Select a question and a brief video clip will answer it. The questions are:

- How did the film come to be?

- Where did the computer games come from?

- What is the relationship between family members today?

- Why did the Friedmans film themselves?

- Why didn't Seth Friedman participate in the film?

- What was Jesse's life like in prison?

Charlie Rose Interviews Andrew Jarecki (19:15) is an interesting, informative, and natural discussion about the film, the events, and many other things.

Unseen Home Movies:

Passover Sedar (2:14) features more footage of the heated discussion between the family that night.

Grandma Speaks (0:27) is what it is. Not that interesting.

Jesse's Last Night (3:18) is more of Jesse talking to the camera and getting things ready before his departure.

The Case:

The Investigation (8:17) adds a lot more background and additional information on the case. Jesse notes an interesting approach of the police officers as they searched his room for suggestive material. It's also interesting to note that the police alleged the Friedmans videotaped the children they were accused of molesting, but eventually nothing materialized. There is also discussion about the interviewing of the children; an excerpt of a secretly taped interview with one boy is pretty telling, not to mention alarming, as to how zealous some parts of the investigation were conducted by the interviewees).

Additional Suspects (7:17) informs that the police alleged three other young men were accomplices to Arnold and Jesse, and charges were brought against one of them. The additional interviews and footage here is very interesting, and certainly raises a lot of new questions against the police's investigation of the case.

Great Neck Outraged (3:53) is pretty self-explanatory. Specifically, three excerpts of phone messages are played, and they are quite upsetting.

A Principal Witness for the Prosecution (3:32) refers to the one student in the film who gave testimony that lead to 35 counts of sodomy. New interview footage with this person sounds ludicrous and exaggerated, some of his stories are outrageous. Can this guy be believed, or is he making up these images from the past? If you ask me, he is full of crap. I don't know, it's his words against those of Arnold and Jesse.

The Family:

This area contains home movie footage of various events in the lives of the Friedmans.

Arnold - Arnie's Party (3:43) is footage of his retirement as a teacher, Anatomy of a Pedophile (1:07) concerns the revealing letter Arnold sent from prison to Jesse's attorney, and Arnie's Last Letter from Prison (1:03) is exactly what it says.

Elaine - The Newlyweds (2:48) is footage of the newly married couple on vacation, Elaine Overwhelmed (2:33) discusses her consideration to commit suicide at one point, and Elaine Arrested (1:51) examines briefly her arrest for allegedly "obstructing justice".

Jessie - Jesse's First Days Out of Prison (4:25) shows through footage shot by David how he tries to adjust to a new life. Jesse's Life Today (5:59) begins in September 2003 with him recounting what he has done for the past 22 months in terms of his parole conditions to working on a fund raiser to meeting lawyers and discuss the filing of a motion to get his case re-examined. Jesse Looks Back (5:45) features him looking back on his decision to plead guilty, his interview with Geraldo Rivera (plus footage is shown), and other things.

David - "Just a Clown" (20:11) is the short film about birthday clowns that Andrew Jarecki was making when he discovered David Friedman's secret story. Interesting stuff, fun to watch.

The Score - This featurette (7:19) concerns the recording of the film's score in Rome with composer Andrea Morricone, who is interviewed. Jarecki and Richard Hankin film themselves as they drive through Rome to meet with Andrea and his orchestra inside the recording studio.

Rounding out the extras is the film's theatrical trailer (2:08) can be found on disc 1, and the DVD-ROM material listed on disc 2 features original documents from police case files and the Friedman archives. It can be accessed from your ROM drive. DVD credits are also listed.

A very cool fold-out booklet features a New Yorker article excerpt, and lists both scene selections and all the features on both discs, including the running time of each extra and DVD-ROM material. Menus are animated and easy to navigate. You can select to view the film with English subtitles. The 107-minute feature is organized into ten chapters.

FINAL THOUGHTS

As you may figure from my discussion above, Capturing the Friedmans is quite intriguing, interesting, mysterious, and compelling. Certain aspects of it might unsettle you somewhat, but there is no denying the fact that director Andrew Jarecki has presented us with possibly the most intimate portrait of a family who experienced both a great life and an even greater tragedy. HBO's video/audio presentations are perfectly fine considering the material. The extras on disc 2 are a bit overwhelming, but in general they are interesting and great to have. This DVD is recommended at the highest level. A purchase is well worth it.

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