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Capturing The Friedmans [Archive] - RonFez.net Messageboard

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curtoid
02-20-2004, 05:33 PM
Paul-O was on R&F tonight, and Paul-O was defending the documentary which is up for an Oscar this year.

I finally saw the film recently, and while it does make a good case that the defendents in the film were railroaded, it is pretty balanced in showing as much of the case as possible. There were no actual trials in either of the cases, so the film attempts to bring the evedence in as concise a way as possible.

It's pretty clear that the police work is so sloppy, and very disturbing evidence that the police manipulated evidence on one of the deleted scenes, that if it had gone to trial in an enviroment that wasn't full of hysteria, neither would have gone to jail.

The most astounding aspect of the film is that this family videotaped everything of their lives, even as the family was falling apart. It is really incredible footage.

And on the DVD extras section, they show the debates at the screenings of the film between the people that were in the film.

It's a tough movie to watch and get beyond the fact that the father really was scum. However, it also shows that everyone has shades - that no one is black and white.

Anyway, two of the 18 children that said they were touched have made a plea to the Oscar voters not to reward this film - Ron read that tonight. However, Studio Briefing came out with this today:

G-MAN DEFENDS CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS A former FBI agent who specialized in cases of child sexual abuse has come to the defense of the documentary film Capturing the Friedmans after two men who claimed that they were abused by Arnold and Jesse Friedman sent an open letter to motion picture academy voters asking them not to vote for the Oscar-nominated film. Kenneth V. Lanning, who has written numerous publications for the Justice Department on sexual abuse, including Child Molesters, a Behavioral Analysis, said in a statement on Thursday that in his 30 years with the FBI, he had "not seen many films or programs on the topic that are as objective and balanced as Capturing the Friedmans." He noted that besides presenting the views of the Friedman family, "the filmmakers went to great lengths to include alleged victims in the film and to deal with them in a respectful and professional manner. ... I am grateful that we have a film that presents many sides of a
complex issue and encourages meaningful debate."

All parents should see this film, as well as anyone concerned about our rights being taken away from us in courts.

VERY complex film that points in the direction that at least one of the two arrests was unjust.



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Yerdaddy
02-20-2004, 06:22 PM
I'd have rented this thing but it's only at Blockbuster on DVD. I'm pretty sure you've seen "The Fog of War," which is better as an Oscar nominee?

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curtoid
02-20-2004, 06:48 PM
Fog of War...sounds familiar. Hmmmmm...

Seriously, dude. A DVD player costs about $2.00 these days. Get one, and then donate it when you leave.

Here are all of the documentary nominations:

BALSEROS
CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS
THE FOG OF WAR
MY ARCHITECT
THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND

I've seen three of the five - I don't think BALSEROS or THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND have played here yet. Hopefully they'll screen with the AFI SILVERDOCS FILM FEST this spring in April (an entire film festival dedicated to documentaries!)

Of those, I do think FRIEDMANS was the best, in both the way it produced, and the way it made you think. I was so reluctant to see this film when it first played in theatres, because I immediately thought that it either would have gone the route of glamorizing the Friedmans (make them look overly sympathetic), or would go the other and sensationalize it (make them look like pure evil). It did neither.

You don't come away ever liking the family, and in fact you do loath the father in it. However, the justice system does seem to have been out of control. Kids (now as adults) did come forward to say they lied; parents talked about the questioning the police did of their kids; they did interview one kid (now and adult) who sticks by his story, and while your heart breaks for him, and at times are so repulsed you want to turn the tv off, the more the filmmakers just let him talk (and there's much more with him on the extras disc), the more you have a very uneasy feeling that he's not 100% truthful either. And by the end, like I said, you come away really feeling that one of the two really got screwed.

It's such a horrible topic to begin with (except in the context of Michael Jackson jokes, evedently). I doubt there's anyone around - who has lived long enough - that hasn't been affected by some aspect of child abuse. I knew friends that had been raped as children; I knew of teachers who got young (!) students drunk and did shit to them; and I even had my 12 year old nephew a number of years ago get harrassed by a 30 year old man living in Bowie, Maryland through the internet (I'll tell that story some time of what me and my nephew's father did with what we found out - maybe after my Jodie Foster story! haha!). Still, like I said, it's a film anyone who is concerned about kids, concerned about our rights, concerned about mob mentality and interested in seeing the familty dynamic stretch and break under intense stress should see.

All of that said...while I thnk Friedmans was the best of the 3 I saw, I am kind of pulling for Fog of War, because it was also terrific, and because (I know...I breaking my own rules on make up oscars) Errol Morris should have been nominated for Gates of Heaven, Thin Red Line, and A Brief History of Time, and I'd like to see him finally recognized.

It won't matter - the doc folks always give the award to the films no one has seen (with the exception of last year), so if I were the producers of BALSEROS or THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND I'd be polishing my acceptance speaches!

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This message was edited by curtoid on 2-21-04 @ 9:06 AM

Yerdaddy
02-20-2004, 07:01 PM
can I borrow $2.00?

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curtoid
02-20-2004, 07:07 PM
You have all this money to go to the movies, but you can't find $2.00 for a DVD player? Sheeesh. Don't make me set up some sort of pay pal set up for you where everyone donates money for you to get a DVD player, because I won't!



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Se7en
02-20-2004, 07:21 PM
can I borrow $2.00?


You're on my Christmas list. Can you wait another 10 months?

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HBox
02-20-2004, 07:24 PM
can I borrow $2.00?

How do I know you're not the damned Loch ness monster?

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