Sex, lies, and family videotape

“Capturing the Friedmans” is a documentary that will likely sadden and outrage you, but I… “Capturing the Friedmans” is a documentary that will likely sadden and outrage you, but I recommend it highly.The destruction of a family, which the audience watches at a proximity that would intimidate even the most hardcore reality TV junkies, is sad. The justice dealt by the legal system for the crime that destroys them is scary.

Back in the ’80s, before disaster struck, the Friedmans might have been the perfect family. Dad Arnold was a celebrated teacher. Mother Elaine was a homemaker. Their sons, David, Seth and Jesse, were a trio of happy-go-lucky adolescents. And they all lived comfortably in Great Neck, an upscale, Long Island town.

Things go bad in 1987, when the authorities find that Arnold has a large stash of child pornography. He admits to being a pedophile, but claims he’s never acted on his urges. He’s been teaching computer and piano lessons in his home for several years, though, so the police have to start questioning Arnold’s students.

The accusations start and never stop – and appear suspiciously like mass hysteria – implicating not only Arnold, but also 18-year-old Jesse, in over 1,000 acts of sexual abuse.

Part of the Friedmans’ story is the life-ruining prosecution of father and son, whose possible innocence doesn’t even enter the mind of a single soul in Great Neck, outside of the family. We hear weak, improbable and conflicting descriptions of the alleged crimes and, though we know Arnold isn’t completely innocent, we have to doubt that he and his son, especially, are this guilty.

Thanks to the boys’ apparent obsession with video cameras – it seems they tape everything – we see how the Friedmans are affected at, for example, the dinner table. It’s incredibly emotional stuff, the kind of reality we rarely get to see. Director Andrew Jarecki would have a worthwhile documentary even without the home movies, but their inclusion makes “Capturing the Friedmans” something truly special.

“Capturing the Friedmans” is playing at the Harris Theater.