Capturing the Friedmans Essay -- Film Movies

Capturing the FriedmansIn 2003, Andrew J atomic number 18cki released his documentary Capturing the Friedmans, which explores a seemingly normal middle-class families struggle when the father and son are charged with sexual horror and molestation in 1987. The Friedmans from the outside seem like a healthy family, abiding in a fairly scoopful Great Neck, Long Island community the father Arnold is a Columbia Graduate and a school teacher, while the mother Elaine, a housewife. They have three sons David, Seth, and Jessie whom show up to be a happy, intelligent, and good-humored group of brothers. The power and prestige of this film comes not from its controversial and serious subject matter, but from the unbiased way in which the story is presented. Jarecki gives the audience an equal amount of facts that could be used to argue both sides of the equation, which leaves one realizing that perhaps what really transpired isnt the point hes aiming for in this film. The audience is go aw ay not hunch forwarding whether or not Arnold and his son Jesse committed the crimes, but instead they are left realizing truth is irrelevant, because we will never really know exact details, just the disintegration and tragic destruction of the Friedman Family. Regardless of the validity of the claims, there definitely seems to have been something unusual and tragic about the collapsing Friendman Family. The patriarchal/ maternal relationship was broken, Arnold and Elaine didnt seem very much in love anymore, and the boundaries between the parents and the children became less pyramid like and more horizont... ...at because of the size of the children there would have been corporal symptoms, no documented evidence of this sort was presented during the case. Out of 100 students no physical symptoms were ever recorded, and not o ne student said anything about abuse until four years later when the investigator was pursued (Silvergate, 2004) No parents ever filed complaints prior to police investigation. Because memories are malleable and children are even more undefendable to authority, it is very probable that some children just complied to the leading questions due to fear, but is it possible that they all could? The influence of the investigators parallels to the influence of therapists in cases of sexually abused childrens get memories.Works Cited1)Silverglate, Harvey A Takei, CarlMistrial- The Capturing The Friedmans DVD sheds new light on the case. Newsday