Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

pattypiazza One of the most difficult things to come to terms with in life is the way a seemingly nice, soft-spoken, accomplished person can actually be a monster. Can the alter ego even be likable? Are there good characteristics alongside the evil ones? That said, I came out at the end of the movie not knowing how to feel and not having a gut feeling about the reality either way.For all intents and purposes, this was a model family and every home movie reflects smiles and affection. The inner workings of the relationships are strange to me and the personalities are certainly unusual, but still, there seems to be love. And being unusual isn't indicative of evil doings in and of itself.It's hard to think about but fascinating to imagine the possibility of it all being a planted idea.

Leofwine_draca CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS is one of the most thoroughly engrossing of all the documentaries I've watched. It tells the little-known - at least here in the UK - tale of an ordinary family man, working as a computer teacher at a local high school, who's exposed as a paedophile. What follows is an odyssey of despair and depravity as it turns out family members are involved in an ever-widening circle of crime and deceit.Thankfully, the makers of this documentary had access to reels and reels of 1980s-era home footage from video enthusiast Arnold Friedman, allowing the viewers to get fully drawn into his story. And it's a story full of the usual shocks and twists, one that gets more and more engrossing as time goes on. Moral quandaries are raised, along with the very real possibility of a miscarriage of justice, and the flaws in the American justice system are the most frightening thing on display.CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS has the power to shock you, to disgust you, to make you angry, and, most surprisingly of all, to make you feel sorry for a paedophile. It's one of the most thought-provoking films I've seen, and should be watched in the company of others for the debate that will surely follow a viewing.

Originsoftruth Truth Nassau County district attorney, Kathleen M. Rice, re-investigated the case of Jesse Friedman in 2013 to determine whether his conviction should be upheld or overturned. Their report, prepared by an independent review panel, demonstrate Capturing the Friedman's is, in the mildest terms 'incomplete, and in some points, even incorrect, either case misleading.Here are some of the key points taken from the report (which can be found online in District Attorney's web site). With respect to the Jesse Friedman case, the report says: " None of the five individuals who Friedman advocates suggest "recanted" have, in fact, recanted to any degree of legal certainty. Three have not recanted at all. Reviews of transcripts concerning these individuals reveal that abuse occurred. Another who spoke to the Review Team stood by his account, in contrast to the statement he gave to filmmakers. The subject of the most recent purported recantation has refused to speak to the Review Team or even confirm he wrote the letter outlining the claim, which was provided to the Review Team by Jesse Friedman's lawyer." "Unedited film transcripts of Judge Abbey Boklan and Detective Anthony Squeglia show that each was the subject of selectively edited and misleading film portrayals in Capturing the Friedmans." "The "Meyers Tape" – one of only two pieces of direct evidence of heavy-handed police interviewing techniques cited by Friedman, his advocates and the Court – is, in fact, no tape at all. All that remains of a tape that hasn't existed for more than two decades are notes taken during its screening by a Jesse Friedman attorney. Those notes, presumably limited to information the attorney found helpful to his client's case, were then reduced and curated by filmmakers, and read dramatically by Friedman's attorney in Capturing the Friedmans." "A sworn affidavit from the therapist who treated former student "Computer Student One," stated that she never performed hypnosis on the child. A portion of an unedited transcript of the film's interview with "Computer Student One" contradicted his claim of pre-outcry hypnosis and had been edited out. "Computer Student One" claimed in a 2004 media report that Capturing the Friedmans "twisted" his account. The filmed allegations of "Computer Student One" remain the only direct evidence offered by Friedman or his advocates suggesting that hypnosis was used to induce victims to make accusations in this case."I also find it difficult to understand how these basic facts are totally omitted in the documentary, such as: "While maintaining his innocence prior to his eventual guilty plea, Friedman commissioned and failed at least two lie-detector tests."Overall I found the film, especially the narcissism still preserved in Friedmans' character interesting enough to google the case. In this sense, I guess that makes it good fiction movie, but still not a documentary.

samanthaniedospial The story of the Friedmans is one that requires an understanding of the people involved. They are the ones who drive the story till the end. The way in which their confusion and deception of the situation, seeming to belong to the eye view only, is in any case a he said she said tale. The facts on both sides pulls you back and forth unaware of where you stand. When the Friedman family, with their crazy antics, believes what they think is to be right and to hold no other truth to the facts of the case, it makes you wonder who are these people? Where did they come from? It is a surprise until the end. A moderate and frustrating tale, Capturing the Friedmans requires much attention with little thought.