Review

Capturing the Friedmans began life as a documentary about children's entertainers. When director Andrew Jarecki interviewed NYC party clown David Friedman, he uncovered a story far more intriguing. That story was of a middle-class suburban Jewish family torn apart by charges that both David's father Arnold and his younger brother Jesse were child molesters. Using highly skilled editing techniques, obsessive videos and films from the family, news reports and interviews, the director creates a story that will glue you to the screen.

Arnold was a pedophile - this much is a fact. He was set up by the authorities to buy some child porn from Denmark. He fell for the bait and was served with a search warrant which resulted in the police finding a stash of boy magazines behind his couch. As police began to dig deeper, they started questioning the students in Arnold's computer classes, who began to make statements that Arnold and Jesse staged orgies in their basement classroom. A mass hysteria resulted with many of the children giving such testimony. After plea bargains, both Friemans went to prison. These are the facts, but the filmmaker shows us more. Weaving interviews with a psychologist who specializes in these cases, an exaggerating police officer, a young "victim" with a faulty memory and the Friedman's themselves. One sees many sides to this complex issue. The filmmaker makes on judgments on the Friedman's guilt - he lets us see the whole picture.

The director says, "On a philosophical level, the film is about the elusive nature of truth; how our memories evolve over time to suit our needs... "

Scott Cranin