Review of Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008) by Jess K — 11 Aug 2009

This film will rip your heart out and show it to you. This documentary from the best friend of a murder victim is the most primally emotive, gutwrenching, tearjerking, rage inducing piece of filmmaking I have seen in a good long time.

The movie starts off with family and friends happily remembering their friend Andrew, but you can tell that there is something dark beneath the surface of their happy vignettes. The story which follows is so full of tragic twists and turns, that I think I literally ran through the gambit of all emotions I could possibly feel. This film may make you lose your faith in humanity, but if you look close enough at the message in the end, this film has the power to build you back up a little.

This is one of the finest documentaries I have ever seen, but I would never call it a pleasant experience, and it shouldn't be. This film should enduce rage, it should make you cry, and above all, it should make you care even more deeply for the ones you hold dear in your life, which it does.

This will not be for everyone, but if you have the time, the appreciation for documentary filmmaking, and a heart that can take the emotional weight of this film's story, by all means watch it and say a prayer for the Bagby family.