Capturing the Friedmans is the kind of movie that makes you hate life. You want a genie to appear out of a bottle and tell you what the truth is and what the hell is going on. After watching for two hours, I wasnt sure whether the protagonist was an innocent kid who had his youth wrongfully stolen from him and his reputation stained forever, or evil monster who deserves to be in prison for life.
The movie is a documentary about the destruction of a family in Great Neck, New York, after the father and youngest son are arrested for heinous crimes in 1987. Arnold Friedman was a well liked and award winning teacher in the community, until he was caught buying child pornography in a police sting. The police noted that he gave private piano and computer lessons at his home. After interviewing children in the computer class, they arrested Arnold and his 18-year old son Jesse, as the children reported that they molested and raped dozens of them.
But the film then takes a very weird turn. David Friedman, Jesses brother, bought a video camera and documents the family arguments (a third brother, Seth, declined to be interviewed for the film but does appear in the family videos). Why anyone would want to record their family disintegrating is beyond me, but the footage on the video is surreal. On the night before Arnold is to go to prison for the rest of his life, no one seems to phased by it- they mess around have fun. This is not nervous laughter, its just weird. What is also disturbing is David and Seths treatment of their mother. Although Arnold has confessed public and privately to some sick behavior (such as molesting his brother as a teenager), David goes into deniel and blames his mother for all the problems. He thinks the family has been framed by the police and that Arnold is completely innocent. I felt so much sympathy for this woman, at times I wanted to slap David.
But then the film takes another even stranger turn. The director, Andrew Jarecki, begins to compile a compelling case that Jesse may actually be innocent. Some children in the computer class confess that they told the police what they want to hear, one of their parents says that the police were on a fishing expedition. Jarecki interviews a reporter who has done extensive work with child abuse cases and finds that in the 80s, police often honestly but wrongfully used techniques that pressure victims into false statements and some times even implant false memories. While it seems likely to me that Arnold must have done something wrong, Jesse may be an innocent victim. Or maybe not. I went back and forth on this so many times during the movie I lost count. There is strong evidence both ways and the police appear to be honest individuals who just wanted to see justice done. Unlike the detectives in The Thin Blue Line, they do no appear to be liars or incompetent. If they did anything wrong, they were overzealous in protecting children, which is hard to be angry at.
By the end of the film, you are so tired of this family, how every single of one of them except the mother is either completely delusional or in denial. And the nagging question of Jesse will stay with you. His life is either unspeakable tragic or unspeakably evil, and the frightening thing is that you just dont know.
Capturing the Friedmans (2002)