Capturing the Friedmans Andrew Jarecki

Critical response

Capturing the Friedmans won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival[6] and received predominantly positive reviews. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 97% based on 153 reviews, with an average rating of 8.46/10; the website's critical consensus calls the film: "A haunting depiction of a disintegrating family, and a powerful argument on the elusiveness of truth".[7] The film was ranked as the 7th best-reviewed movie of 2003 on the website's best of the year list.[8] On Metacritic, it has a score of 90 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[9] The low-budget documentary was a success with audiences as well, its $3 million theatrical gross making it a surprise hit.[10]

Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Jarecki so recognizes the archetypal figures in the Friedman home that he knows to push things any further through heavy-handed assessment would be redundant." He praised Jarecki for operating under the premise "that first impressions can't be trusted and that truth rests with each person telling the story."[11] The Washington Post columnist Desson Howe offered similar praise, writing, "It's testament to Jarecki's superbly wrought film that everyone seems to be, simultaneously, morally suspect and strikingly innocent as they relate their stories and assertions ... This is a film about the quagmire of mystery in every human soul."[12] Similarly, film critic Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "The film is an instructive lesson about the elusiveness of facts, especially in a legal context. Sometimes guilt and innocence are discovered in court, but sometimes, we gather, only truths about the law are demonstrated."[6] The film was voted the fifth film in the 2005 Channel 4 programme The 50 Greatest Documentaries.

In one of the few negative reviews, Los Angeles Times writer Kenneth Turan wrote a critique of both the film and Jarecki, stating: "Jarecki's pose of impartiality gets especially troublesome for audiences when it enables him to evade responsibility for dealing with the complexities of his material."[13] Writing for The Village Voice, Debbie Nathan, who was hired by Jarecki as a consultant after having been interviewed for the film, said of Jarecki, "Polling viewers at Sundance in January, he was struck by how they were split over Arnold and Jesse's guilt. Since then, he's crafted a marketing strategy based on ambiguity, and during Q&As and interviews, he has studiously avoided taking a stand."[14]

In his review, Ebert recounted Jarecki's statement at the Sundance Film Festival that he did not know whether Arnold and Jesse Friedman were guilty of child molestation and roundly praised Jarecki for communicating this ambiguity.[6] Jarecki funded Jesse Friedman's appeal and in 2014 he renewed his defense saying, "At the time, Capturing the Friedmans was celebrated for its ambiguity, but if you look at the prosecution of this case, it was an unambiguous disaster... If the police and the DA hadn't bullied everyone, it never would have gotten to this place. I care a lot about this issue of child abuse, I take it very seriously. That's why I feel so strongly that when there are false claims about these kinds of crimes, they really undermine the entire system."[15][16]

Criticism

Criticism intensified as Jarecki's choice not to pursue his firm belief in the Friedmans' innocence became publicly known. There was also a critical blacklash due to footage Jarecki left out on purpose. The film omitted a third defendant in the case, Ross Goldstein, a teenage neighbor who turned state's evidence and corroborated some of the children's accusations. Additionally, Jarecki omitted a tearful confession of guilt Jesse Friedman made from prison on Geraldo Rivera's talk show in 1989; during the interview, he also detailed how his father had molested him as a child. Some of the Friedmans' alleged victims and family members wrote to the Awards Committee, protesting the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature nomination.[17]

Accolades