The Best Documentary of the Decade

Capturing the Friedmans (2003)

WOW! Who knew this might be the most difficult category for me to choose. In the last ten years I have become fascinated with documentaries. My wife and I are total nerds because we love watching them and discuss them often more than any other type of film we view. Even though she may not be please with my pick, I am, and this is MY blog. (I should mention I also considered the following; Food, Inc., Spellbound, The Fog of War, Born into Brothels, Taxi to the Dark Side, No End in Sight, and Bowling for Columbine.)

So, why should you watch this film? Because you’ve never seen anything like it. It’s a fascinating study of a dysfunctional (and maybe even criminal) family from the 1980’s. This is reality TV at its finest (or worst, depending on your taste in reality TV, which by the way, I abhor).

The film “takes place” in 1987 in Long Island. The Friedmans are your typical middle-class family: Dad (Arnold, a high school teacher), Mom (Elaine … a little naïve in my opinion), and sons (David, Jessie, and Seth). Well, typical family in the sense it’s relatively normal for Dad and Jessie to be arrested on charges of rape, sodomy, and molestation. Allegedly these events took place in the basement of the family home where Arnold taught computer classes (WOW! Check out those old PCs). However, there was no physical evidence, and even though they allegedly had sex hundreds of times with minors, none of the boy students complained, called in sick to skip classes, or failed to not sign up for the next course.

The evidence is extremely ambiguous and Jarecki (the director) allows for the viewer to decide guilt or evidence. The story is extremely well told, and the family footage (from their personal home recordings) is extremely relevant, and creepy, at the same time.

Arnold received a life sentence and Jessie served 13 years on an 18 year old sentence, so they were proven guilty … but are they? The truth is they could have been completely guilty, somewhat guilty, or innocent of all charges. What do you believe … oh, you haven’t seen the film … well get back to me when you have …