Review of Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008) by Tim G — 01 Dec 2014

I found this film to be shallow in several critical respects. It does narrates a shocking, almost unbelievable and disturbing tale. Yet its account of good and evil, love and hate, is very simplistic. For instance, not a single attempt is made in this film to the inquire into the life history of the woman who committed these awful murders.

From the start she is simply vilified. And while it's wonderful that friends and family felt love for the murder victim, the portrayal of him is very one dimensional. This film has all the emotional quality and complexity of cheap 70's television crime drama.

Finally, the woman who commits the terrible murders becomes a kind of scapegoat to assuage the many inarticulate fears, dissatisfactions and yearnings of the filmmaker and people portrayed in the film.