Synopsis
An Oscar nominated documentary about a middle-class American family who is torn apart when the father Arnold and son Jesse are accused of sexually abusing numerous children. Director Jarecki interviews people from different sides of this tragic story and raises the question of whether they were rightfully tried when they claim they were innocent and there was never any evidence against them.
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Cast
- Arnold FriedmanSelf
- Elaine FriedmanSelf
- Jesse FriedmanSelf
- David FriedmanSelf
- Seth FriedmanSelf
Recommendations
- 100
USA Today
Not since "Memento" has a movie served up such a provocative mind-bender, and the Sundance winner by first-time filmmaker Andrew Jarecki has the advantage of being true. - 100
Baltimore Sun
A spellbinder of the rarest kind and quality. It opens audiences up to an infinite variety of emotional and intellectual nuances. - 100
Austin Chronicle
By the end of the movie, it’s no longer possible to know anything with certainty -– so convoluted, contradictory, pathological, and long ago have the events become. It’s a movie that will have you talking and thinking for hours. - 100
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
What's most devastating in Capturing the Friedmans is how Jarecki puts the sureness of justice into doubt as he shows Truth (with a capital T) at the mercy of perspective and perception, context and emotion. - 100
Christian Science Monitor
A compulsively watchable movie that's also a provocative inquiry into the ability of the criminal-justice system to determine culpability and truth. - 90
The New York Times
Mr. Jarecki finds a way to show that denial and hope often grow from the same vine. Lives are built around the way they're harvested -- and this talented director has a feel for the soil. - 80
Dallas Observer
Capturing the Friedmans does not end after its credits roll; audiences will try the case over and over again in their heads. Jarecki does not judge, but leaves only tragic clues for us to ponder. - 80
Newsweek
It’s like a nightmare that follows you around in daylight: you can’t quite decode it, you can’t shake it, you can’t stop turning it over and over in your mind. This is one queasily powerful movie.
