CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS (2003) (****)
Two things have to come together to make a good documentary a great one -- skilled and dedicated filmmakers that know what questions to ask and who to ask them to and serendipity. This film has both. The film chronicles the lives of the Friedman family, whose patriarch was convicted of child molestation along with his youngest son. It was one of the most famous such cases in American history. What the filmmakers lucked into with this documentary is that the oldest son, David, filmed and video recorded many family meetings even after Arnold, the father, and Jesse, the son, were arrested.
The film unblinkingly peers into the turmoil that this family went through. We get glimpses of Arnold as a funny, happy-go-lucky kind of guy, but after the charges were brought against him, he becomes a quiet, meek guilt-ridden lump. Elaine, Arnold's wife, seemed to love her husband before the charges, but old buried issues boiled to the surface and she quickly wrote him off. This betrayal by his mother created great anger and resentment in David, who sees his father through rose-colored glasses and sees his mother through cloudy resentment. Seth, the middle child, didn't even participate in the film, which adds to the story's mystery and makes the reading of the affects on the family more complex. Jesse, the youngest son, seems the most resolved about the situation and the most honest about the way he views both his father and mother. The last family member interviewed is Arnold's brother Howard, who is very emotionally scarred by the scandal. A revelation about Howard late in the movie adds a whole new wrinkle to him and his brother.