Review of Capturing the Friedmans (2003) by Shawne ~ — 22 Apr 2004

For some reason, this documentary brought to mind Jack Nicholson's justification of his caddish behaviour to Diane Keaton in [i]Something's Gotta Give[/i]: "I've always told you some version of the truth," he pledges solemnly. Bullshit, you see in her eyes. "The truth doesn't [i]have versions[/i]!" she shrieks. True, you would think. But if there's anything [i]Capturing The Friedmans[/i] teaches us, for it sure doesn't ultimately come to any kind of a conclusion about the Friedman family, it's that what separates the facts from the truth of any particular matter can, at times, be a yawning, precarious and ultimately unstable chasm.

The truth does have versions, as amply borne out by the conflicting perspectives reflected in this superior documentary. As each surviving member of the Friedman family spins his or her own tale about what happened when dad Arnold and son Jesse both got nabbed on damning allegations of paedophilia in the 1980s (rocking America at the time, might I add), we realise just how scarily divergent their stories can get. And how each member of the family still clings stubbornly to their story--their way of rationalising what happened, their way of remembering it so they can keep living. Elaine Friedman, who is alternately portrayed as detachedly sane and yet reviled by her children, says she doesn't know what the truth is, so professes nothing, while urging both her husband and son to put in guilty pleas. Arnold's brother Howard swears by Arnold's honour, and even though Arnold himself claims that Howard was his earliest sexual partner, Howard argues that he has no such recollection of this. Jesse swears his innocence and rubbishes his lawyer's claims that he had admitted to any kind of sexual wrongdoing on either his or his father's parts... even as footage taken in the courtroom shows Jesse breaking down while swearing that he too is a victim of abuse and that he would have stopped it earlier if he could. Scariest of all, perhaps, is the parents of the children who had pointed fingers the Friedmans' way. We have taped monologues from dark-shrouded figures who come frighteningly close to admitting that the allegations they'd made as children had been made to get the police off their backs. Or one particular victim-grown-up who only recalled instances of sexual abuse after hypnosis--just after director Andrew Jarecki throws in a segment that explains how hypnosis can really mess up people's memories.

Even though Jarecki does paint a more sympathetic picture of the Friedman family than can be expected with the inclusion of investigative journalist Debbie Nathan, who not only believes in the innocence of both Arnold and Jesse, but also has correspondence from Arnold in which the latter truthfully discusses his earlier homosexual dalliances with young boys, Jarecki never tilts the documentary more one way than another. It's left to you to make up your own mind. And when Jesse, who has railed against his mother throughout the entire film, busts another preconceived notion when he gives his mother the warmest of hugs when he first sees her when he's released from prison after 13 years... perhaps the only thing you know is that sometimes, you just can't make up your mind. And hey, that's not always a bad thing.