Review of Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008) by Shawn R — 04 May 2016

I believe that this documentary Dear Zachary was very good it was a very different style then normal documentary. I felt it was very smooth flowing and it really hit hard. The director of this film was Kurt Kuenne and every moment it felt like he put his whole life into this movie. He must of spent so much time in making this and it felt like every person cared a ton about the man who got murdered, Andrew Bagby. This was not like your normal documentary either, this doc was shot on three or four cameras and it was shot by one man. Kurt who shot the whole thing had one goal tell a story of what happened to Andrew his parents and his kid, and he did it extremely well.

The plot of the film started when this guy Andrew started dating this random girl that seemed off. He dated her for a while and he relied that she was crazy and when he tried to break up with him, she went insane and murdered Andrew with five gunshots to his body. After this she fled to Canada where she was allowed to walk free because the judge thought she was not a threat. Andrews's parents came up and she told everyone she was pregnant. The baby was then born and the parents of Andrew had to split custody with the woman the murdered there son. Throughout the whole movie you get interviews from friends and family of Andrew. You get to see all the ways that Andrew was a good guy and you can see how his parents where good to. After his parents get split-custody something happens.

The interviews in this movie were very good and added a ton to the movie. The one scene he puts like 30 interviews right in a row and it impacted the viewer a lot and pushed his point very well. Overall it seemed like all these people knew Andrew a lot and it seemed like they really cared and were all impacted from his death. The hardest interview to watch was of his parents, you could feel the pain in their voices and it felt like you were in the room any time that the parents were speaking. These interviews were very good and added a lot to the movie.

This film was shot on three to four cameras with one guy shooting them. The camera quality wasn't the best but it didn't take away from the film at all, it actually added to the film because in made it feel all real like you were there with them when everything was going on. The editing style was pretty good to it seemed like it was always moving and it was not slow at all. Some may say that the editing was amateur but it felt life these theme of editing fit and that's how I would've done it. Now the cinematography of the movie wasn't the best every single interview was the same type of shot but it didn't really take away from the film. The last was the techniques were good is the effects that he used on all the pictures he had of the events and what all happened it looked very professional and well put together.

I believe that this movie told the story perfect and I don't think you could have made it any different. The man who made this film had a vison and you can feel like he put every little drop of everything that he knew and with all the interviews he got the stuff that he didn't know and this added a new level to the film that you would not have had if you didn't have these interviews. The ending was pretty good too, he completely changes the point of the story and adds so much to the film and because of this film Canada changed its laws and this movie helped by telling the whole story.

If I were you I would definitely watch this film it made me feel like I was there with the family and anytime anything bad happened, I felt there pain and the despair that they were all going through. Also the ending is something that you would need to see and it will change you a little from watching this film. This story is so good that at some points the things that happen feel fake and feel like they could never happen. There were so many plot twists and story changes throughout. There is no way that you should not watch this excellent film.