Essay Questions

Elaine Friedman seems suspicious of her husband. What about her behavior suggests she already had doubts about his activities?

Elaine Friedman divorced her husband very soon after he was first arrested for child molestation. Family videos show constant friction and argument between her and her husband; Elaine seems to believe that Arnold is guilty of molesting his students and urges him to confess so that his son might receive a lighter sentence. Her focus is not on Arnold proving his innocence which suggests that either she thinks this is impossible or that she already knows him to be guilty.

Elaine does not seem particularly surprised by the accusations against Arnold and also seems to have already been aware that he collected child pornography. Her priority seems to be her son, as if her husband's freedom is a lost cause. Her anxiety over protecting her son seems based in motherly love rather than in the belief that he is innocent. Elaine also seems to hold her husband responsible for the situation that Jesse is now in.

What is the purpose of the family video films included in the documentary?

The family videos, provided to the director by David Kaye (formerly Friedman), give the film's audience a fly-on-the-wall experience of life within the Friedman family. Throughout Arnold's pre-trial preparation, he discusses the case and strategizes different ways in which both Friedmans might be able to get off. The videos show the family dynamic and the way in which each member of the family is trying to protect their own interests with the exception of Elaine, who is planning that her husband be sacrificed to save her son.

The personality of Jesse is particularly illuminated on the family videos, as he comes across as rather narcissistic and self-serving. This is interesting in that the impression he gives the audience is the impression that a defense-appointed psychologist also got of him. He is constantly calculating and also urging his father to admit everything, whilst minimizing his own role in the molestation. It is also interesting, and somewhat disturbing, to see three young men who as children were abused by their father still sitting around a dinner table with the man who abused them, as if nothing untoward had happened. This show the unusual and unhealthy relationships that exist within the family.