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By PAUL BRENNER
Usually it is Athens or
Thebes that is the background of Greek tragedy and
not Great Neck. But in Andrew Jarecki's
heart-wrenching documentary "Capturing the
Friedmans" -- now available on a two disc edition
from HBO Video -- a split level suburban home in
this Long Island suburb becomes the scene of a
horrific psychic battle that tears a seemingly
normal family asunder.
As Elaine, the mother of the Friedman family,
remarks, "We had a middle class home. Educated. I
had a good family. Right? Where did this come
from?" The "this" that Elaine refers to was a
surprise Thanksgiving visit from the police. As
the family -- Elaine, husband Arnold, and theirs
sons David, Seth, and Jesse -- sat down for their
Thanksgiving dinner, the police battered in their
front door and swept the home for pornographic
material. Before the night was out, Arnold was
arrested for molesting scores of young boys in the
basement of the Friedman home where he taught
after school computer classes. Also accused was
the youngest son, Jesse, charged with aiding his
father in the abuse.
Jarecki forms the documentary like a tightly
structured police thriller, first presenting the
charges against the Friedmans as set out by the
local law enforcement officials. Jarecki then
proceeds to blast holes in the police accusations
against Arnold and Jesse. Unlike a police
thriller, however, all does not end happily with
order restored. Arnold, not an innocent victim and
frightened into pleading guilty and rejecting a
trial, causes his son Jesse to panic and plead
guilty too.
The sex scandal destroys the family: the death
threats, taunts from passing motorists, and their
own howling and screaming at each other rip the
family apart at the seams.
From a documentarian's perspective, Jarecki fell
into a mother lode of material. When Arnold is
first arrested, David began to videotape
everything that happened in the home -- family
gatherings, reunions, discussions, arguments. Some
twenty-five hours worth of footage. With this raw
material, Jarecki charts a family falling apart,
the Friedmans playing out their doom like a
reality TV "Long Day's Journey Into Night."
The subtext of the film is the nebulous nature of
truth, recollection, and memory. All involved --
the family, the law enforcement officers, lawyers,
psychologists, victims -- have conflicting
viewpoints of the past and different
interpretations of actions and deeds. No
conclusions are drawn (though Jarecki certainly
veers to the side of Jesse) and no judgments are
made. The only truth all the participants agree
upon is the incredibly sad outcome for the family
-- a father who commits suicide in prison and a
young teenage boy being given the maximum prison
time, coming out of jail with his youth gone and
entering middle age. On things for sure, Sophocles
had nothing on the Friedmans.
The sobering special features include audio
commentary by Jarecki and Richard Hankin (the
editor and co-producer), the theatrical trailer,
reactions from the premiere of the film, answers
to frequently asked questions about the film,
Jarecki being interviewed by Charlie Rose,
additional home movies, clips concerning the
investigation of the case (including additional
suspects not mentioned in the film), a featurette
on composing the film's score, a collection of
clips of the family members, Jarecki's short film
about party clowns (David Friedman is the
preeminent children's entertainer in New York
City) that became the genesis of "Capturing the
Friedmans," and documents and audio clips as
DVD-ROM content. The film is in Dolby SR and
subtitled in English, French, and Spanish. |
