Review of Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008) by Carl M — 17 Jan 2010

Both a warm documentary about the strength of human relationships; and a scathing look at a flawed justice system. The true story about the murder of Andrew Bagby is absolutely outrageous. I can not imagine anyone watching this film without feeling anger, frustration and sorrow. However, the documentary is unfortunately not without it's faults.

The only real problem is the work of the filmmaker Kurt Kuenne. His structuring of the story, as a whole, works well. He drip-feeds you information very well, keeping you constantly engaged throughout, instead of dumping everything on you chronologically. However, the style of the film becomes very heavy handed. The story is so powerful on it's own, it's unnecessary to beat us over the head with over-the-top editing. He loops voice-over work; dwells on the same shots, running them over and over again; tints images in red to convey a sense of anger; uses overly dramatic music. It all feels very manipulative. Still, in terms of overall structure I think the documentary is well conceived, and the story is divulged effectively.