capturing the friedmans (2003)
			director:  andrew jarecki arnold friedman, elaine friedman, jesse friedman, david friedman, seth friedman unfashionable observations rating: B-				Capturing the Friedmans is about the Arnold and Jesse Friedman child molestation case in New York. All of the movie critics I pay any attention to (Roger Ebert, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, and the EW critics) have been ecstatic about this movie. I have been severely disappointed. I think the problem with the documentary is that I could not relate to any one of the people we meet. Arnold Friedman is an old, self-described pedophile. Jesse Friedman, the youngest son, is curiously carefree as he is being sentenced to 6-18 years in prison, which makes you wonder if he's all there. Seth Friedman, the middle child, perhaps the only person who could provide a sober perspective on the subject at hand, declined to be interviewed for the film. David Friedman, the oldest son, is a hateful clown. (Literally! He works as a clown in NYC!). And Elaine Friedman, Arnold's wife, is simply caught in the middle of it all without a clue. There was simply no one the audience could hold on to throughout the film. Most films or novels that deal with ugly or uncomfortable topics (such as pedophilia, or suicide) usually have, at the very least, an anti-hero. (Think of Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye, or Harold in Harold and Maude.) There was no such character to be found here. The documentary is an interesting piece of social psychology, but it fails to reveal anything of great importance. In the end, I was so disconnected from the characters that I was almost indifferent as to the film's ultimate question: "Who do you believe?" I'd give Andrew Jarecki's Capturing the Friedmans a B-.
	Unfashionable Observations © 2003