I'm not sure if this has already been posted (I couldn't find a different one) but has anyone seen this film? I enjoyed it...
I just snagged a synopsis offline:
"This documentary "captures" the experience of a family in crisis, through the actual home video movies of the Friedmans, a seemingly average upper-middle-class Jewish family in Great Neck, NY whose world was changed disastrously when the father and son were charged with horrible crimes of child molestation in 1987. In the 1980s, Arnold Friedman was a high school science teacher who taught elementary school children computer classes in his home where his wife also ran a toddler childcare group, which made him one of the first teachers to establish a computer education curriculum for children that young. Their lives changed, however, when the U.S. Postal Service began investigating Arnold and his family, which led to the eventual charges that he and his 18-year-old son Jesse had committed dozens of acts of a sexual nature. The media saturated the airwaves with coverage of the event, but some of the best footage was shot by the family themselves... which is seen publicly for the first time in this documentary."
I think the trailer might be available at http://www.capturingthefriedmans.com/main.html
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Just wondering if anyone had seen this as well and what did they think of it...
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I've never even heard of this film, but that is one great website. This looks really interesting...
i heard about it. i live right near great neck, so they publicize it on local news channels.
If anyone out there has seen it, can someone please tell me why it's rated NR (Not Rated). Is the content too graphic to be rated R? Or did the MPAA just not rate it because they didn't see it? I'm gonna be going to Dallas Thursday to see that and a couple of other movies. Can anyone under 18 get into it?
i saw this last night at my local cinema. it is a very well-made film, but obviously the subject matter is very disturbing. at no time did i feel comfortable watching this film, because when it isn't going into detail about the allegations, we are witnesses to a textbook dysfunctional family that is falling apart before our eyes.
i found it really interesting how the Friedman's captured absolutely everything on home video. it seems like that was the only way they could really let out their real emotions. it also seemed like a release for them. some people write in journals, some confide in friends...the Friedman's used a video camera.
as far as why it's NR, i really don't know.
I saw it this evening, and agree completely with what Dufresne said. It's a good film, but it's almost unbearably unpleasant. I know everyone who is in it consented to be filmed, but I still felt very voyeuristic. I snuck into a few minutes of Bend It Like Beckham afterwards to cheer up.
It's sort of like the pedophile storyline in 'Happiness,' except that it doesn't have the cushion of fiction. It forces you to deal with your feelings on the matter in a more blunt manner. The revalation that the dad's brother is gay at the end of the film also raises a whole new set of problems.
One of the complaints about The Blair Witch Project was that the characters always were filming everything in the worst situations. That's sort of the case here too, and it's all real. It's amazing how much footage the family shot...I imagine the inception of the documentary was at least partially based around that.
I agree that it's very unpleasent, unsettling, disturbing and dark. But I also found it to be interesting how the court cases continued and how they came out. What makes it so upsetting is that we are looking at a family falling apart before our very eyes. I suppose it got the NR rating because of the subject matter and nothing more. I snuck into it in Dallas on the first day of it's release. While it's not for everyone, this is a great documentary that is always compelling and involving to watch.
Quote from: GhostboyI snuck into a few minutes of Bend It Like Beckham afterwards to cheer up.
Haha, I snuck into Spellbound afterwards, which was on an entirely different wavelength (as in cheery and positive)...
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Quote from: GhostboyThe revalation that the dad's brother is gay at the end of the film also raises a whole new set of problems.
Let's explore this further; it's an angle I tried to think about post-film didn't get too far with.
Describe this "whole new set of problems" as you see it....
BTW: of the 5 new films of 2003 I've seen, Capturing the Friedmans is by far the best.
I thought this film was beautiful. some scenes in there were just heartbreaking. but the film does follow a pretty recognizable tragic arc, even up until the "redemption" in the end. that's why I think it's a beautiful film. I dunno, I wasn't really that disturbed because the film really isn't about the details of the crimes, the only "graphic description" of the crime in the film were testimonies from obviously unreliable sources, therefore it's a lot easier to dismiss them and not picture them.
I saw it this weekend with my mom... man, I liked this film, but felt weird sitting next to her as this guy explained "leap frog."
Anyway, I really loved it, but the entire epilogue (which doesn't have that much talking in it) was ruined by an old guy sitting behind us, who, more or less, explained the entire movie he'd just seen to his wife... and she saw it too!! For God sakes, wait for the movie to end completely to do that in your loud, raspy whisper!!!
Anway, I thought it was interesting how it actually started out as a documentary on New York's most successful party clown, David Friedman... then the director found out who his dad was... and about all those videos... and well... there you have it, a really great movie!
Did you guys know the director, Andrew Jarecki, created Moviefone, and sold it to whoever runs it now for nearly 400 million? Now THERE'S a way to finance a movie (or ten).
I think he's the brother of eugene jarecki who did the trials of henry kissinger.
i saw it while i was in austin a few days ago.
while i agree with some of the comments here that it was severely disturbing, uncomfortable, and at times beautiful, i felt it was way too long. some of the parts in the movie just went on forever, never really evolving the story. but on the whole, it was extremely fascinating. some of the people in it, i wanted to crack their fucking heads open, especially the zealot cops, or that prick in sillouhette in the jean shorts - i could just tell he was a fucking liar. not that i believe the friedmans, but you could tell some of the people in the film were simply just out to get them.
and i found it extremely odd that david [was it david? i mean the clown one] seemed to be so enraged and defensive about his family, while the accused brother and father were so calm throughout the movie. while david was trying to save every last bit of normalcy to his family, albeit acting like a complete psychopath.
i also didn't believe howard, arnold's brother, when he said he doesn't remember arnold fucking him. but that revelation, right there when the wife mentioned it, i almost jumped out of my seat.
when jesse got out of prison and met his mother...i was kinda moved. :oops:
anyways. great flick. extremely compelling and unhealthfully disturbing. however i felt it was stagnant for long periods a few times throughout the run. maybe thirty minutes too long.
7 1/2 /10
on a sidenote, i ran into harry knowles while walking into the cinema. heh.
just caught this on dvd...pretty great.
one thing that was really interesting to me was the father's demeanor...SPOILERS...he never really said much throughout the film to proclaim his innocence. now, i'm of the opinion that he didn't molest any kids in his basement, BUT i think he may have done it in the past and there was a good chance that he'd do it in the future.
...and i got the weird feeling that he felt the same way...he didn't really do what he was actually being punished for, but rather what he'd done in the past or to prevent him from doing things in the future. he was certainly an interesting character.
Quote from: abuck1220just caught this on dvd...pretty great.
one thing that was really interesting to me was the father's demeanor...SPOILERS...he never really said much throughout the film to proclaim his innocence. now, i'm of the opinion that he didn't molest any kids in his basement, BUT i think he may have done it in the past and there was a good chance that he'd do it in the future.
...and i got the weird feeling that he felt the same way...he didn't really do what he was actually being punished for, but rather what he'd done in the past or to prevent him from doing things in the future. he was certainly an interesting character.
Actually I believe a few times they say he admitted to having sex with children. They said he had sex with his brother. And his brother denied having any memory of it which is kind of amazing because I believe he said he was 8 when it happend. Also, I believe they said Arnold admitted to having some form of relations with boys at the lake house.
Finally watched this and not only felt it was a great film, but a very important one at that. I had the same debate in my head of speculating to who was actually telling the truth and who wasn't, but the great thing about that is how convinced everyone was of their own innocence, their feeling of normalcy while being accused of being a "monster" by the media. I said Irreversible gave a good feeling to the understanding of how anyone of us can be that monster when really pushed to do it; Capturing the Friedmans takes it further to social truths. It understands that many people who do committ terrible crimes don't surround themselves with that life and fully accept the monster they are, but try to live normal lives and bury their secrets. This movie pin points the feeling I get when I do something wrong and get caught and feel above it because I surround myself with mostly good intentions so should be given some leway. This film will stand as an important cultural documentation. Irreversible stands as a great filmmaking project with some truthfulness.
For the record, I believe the father and son did some of the crimes. I don't believe they did all of them, but smoke and fog couldn't have created that big of a firestorm against them. Its just when police went looking for more witnesses, some were bullied to say they were victims when they weren't. There still had to have been a number of witnesses telling the same story to police and being very specific to really create this problem.
ah you got the dvd. How's the dvd?
Quote from: peteah you got the dvd. How's the dvd?
lots of features. lots of features i haven't watched yet. right after i watched the film, i had 3 people waiting to borrow it. I've gone a week now without having the dvd so I really don't know.
'Friedmans' Victims Send Academy a Letter
NEW YORK (AP) - Two men whom Jesse Friedman pleaded guilty to sexually abusing as boys have written an open letter to Academy Awards voters, speaking out against the Oscar-nominated documentary about the Friedman family.
"Capturing the Friedmans,'' by director Andrew Jarecki, is among the favorites to win best documentary at the Feb. 29 Oscar ceremony. It examines the cases against Arnold and Jesse Friedman, a Long Island father and son imprisoned in the late 1980s for sexually abusing dozens of children.
The victims, now in their 20s, wrote that Jesse Friedman was "being paraded like a celebrity.''
"If this film does win an Oscar, it will be won at the expense of silencing the plaintive voices of abused children once again, just as our own voices were silenced 16 years ago by the threats and intimidation of our tormentors, Arnold and Jesse Friedman,'' said the letter.
Jarecki said his film was a balanced piece, and that he had reached out to every child involved. He pointed out that the film's longest interview is with someone who has recollections of being abused.
"The film doesn't exclude that perspective in the slightest,'' he said Tuesday. "I didn't set out to make an advocacy film for the Friedmans, and I didn't make one.''
However, Jesse Friedman, now 34, is seeking a new trial to overturn his conviction based on information revealed in the documentary. And in an earlier interview, Jarecki told The Associated Press that he was ``very supportive'' of Friedman's quest for a new trial, and that people ``come away from the film thinking that Jesse was railroaded.''
The men who wrote the letter list their ages as 24 and 27 and their occupations as graduate student and businessman, respectively. They did not reveal their names.
The judge who dealt with their case, Abbey Boklan, who is now retired from her Nassau County court, confirmed that the two men had been among the 13 children Jesse Friedman pleaded guilty to abusing.
A copy of the letter was provided to The Associated Press by Joyanna Silberg, a child psychologist and member of the Leadership Council on Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence, which is conducting a campaign against the movie.
"Whether it was on purpose or whether Jarecki was misled, he presented a documentary that conveys an impression of the case that is erroneous,'' Silberg said.
"Capturing the Friedmans'' won the documentary grand prize at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and was named best nonfiction film by the New York Film Critics Circle.
Jesse was 19 when he pleaded guilty to the sex abuse charges in 1988. Authorities said he and Arnold Friedman molested dozens of children during computer classes in their home.
Jesse was sentenced to 6 to 18 years and was paroled after 13 years in prison; he is now a registered sex offender who lives in Manhattan. His father, an admitted pedophile who was also convicted of sending child pornography through the mail, died in prison in 1995.
One thing that made the film disturbing was that it is a documentary but at no point in the film do we ever know what exactly happened. Neither side is probably telling the whole truth, and contradictory statements abound. Its a difficult film to watch not only because of the subject matter, but also because of the sense that we don't know the whole truth.
Exactly! It's a brilliant fucking film, I was just talking about your same point the other day. I was trying to explain to my mother the story, and it's hard because the father is a pedophile, but is he completely guilty of this crime? And Jesse seems innocent, but his family is so off their rocker, especially the older brother. In the end, their mother, the one whom they constantly complain about, seems to be the only person with any sanity left in her, as she got the hell away from everything and started over.
i just watched it for the first time last wednesday. and i was completely disturbed by it. it was a chilling and brilliant documentary on this family and this father who, once you hear that comment about the child "making him excited", that was the climax for me, i was like "ahh.. uh ugh." you feeling you get watching this is essentially the same feeling you get watching a documentary, or reading a book, of a serial killer. where they're so insane, and the chronicling of all their murders makes you feel disturbed inside. like when i was watching this Chikatilo documentary.. but yeah. great film.