by
Anthony "Q" Kusich
nomination for Best Documentary Feature. I was able to speak to him again briefly
following the nominations announcement about what the recognition means to him as a
filmmaker and how it may affect the subjects of his movie.
Andrew Jarecki: It's great. It's gratifying. It's like this whole process has finally come to
fruition.
AK: Have you already told members of the Friedman family?
AJ: My first call was to Jesse Friedman. I told him that the impact of the film is real. It will
not only affect me -- the artist -- but him as well. I truly hope that this added attention will
fuel a rethinking of his case.
AK: Why do you think your film stood out?
AJ: I think it's because I tried to keep a sense of journalistic balance. "Capturing the
Friedmans" is not necessarily an advocacy piece; it examines both sides so that the viewer can
make up his own mind.
AK: That's definitely true. Have you seen any of your competition?
AJ: I haven't seen all of the other movies. I've seen "Balseros" and "The Fog of War."
AK: What about in the other categories?
AJ: I loved "Lost in Translation" and "American Splendor." I haven't seen "Return of the
King" yet. I also haven't seen "The Triplets of Belleville," but I'm sure I'll like it when I do.
AK: Yes, those are all great movies.
AJ: So who do you think is going to win in my category?
AK: It's a close race between you and Errol Morris. He's a legend who's never even been
nominated before, but you've got almost every critic on your side. I think you're gonna take it.
or maybe it was the continuing downtrend of quality in studio films, but it's no secret that
documentaries made a distinguishable mark in theaters in 2003. From "Winged
Migration" to "Spellbound" to "Step Into Liquid" to "Tupac: Resurrection," non-fiction
films hit an artistic zenith and found millions of moviegoers along the way.
Chief among them was the disturbing portrait of a family torn apart by allegations of child
molestation in "Capturing the Friedmans." First-time director Andrew Jarecki -- the
founder of Moviefone and a sometime musician -- met with me recently to discuss the
success of his award-winning documentary, what the Friedmans are up to now, and his
place among the tough Oscar competition.
Friedmans?
Andrew Jarecki: I started out making a totally different
film. Originally it was about professional children's
birthday party clowns in New York City. It would've
been a slightly dark story anyway -- they're very quirky
people. But it wasn't until I had been working with
David Friedman, who's one of the city's top clowns, for
about four or five months that I discovered their story.
AK: How did you get him to talk about it?
As explored in the film, patriarch Arnold and his son
Jesse were accused of 250 counts of child abuse by
neighborhood kids who took computer classes in the
Friedmans' basement.
In the film he hints at the idea that there are certain things he's not telling me, and it just
piqued my interest so I really started to pursue it. I think subliminally he wanted to get it off
his chest, but consciously he knew it just wasn't good for the clown business.
AK: Was he still apprehensive?
AJ: Well he said to me, "Look, if you're really going to morph your other film into this one,
in addition to the 20 hours of home movies I gave you about the family during happy times,
there's another 20 hours of home videos that I started shooting after the police showed up."
AK: It's a little odd that the family would be videotaping themselves during such a difficult
time in their lives, especially on the night before Arnold was due in jail.
AJ: I think the Friedmans are natural performers. In the beginning of the film, you can see
how they're always making vaudevillian little home movies, being very creative about doing
things like that. And they just kept filming during a dramatic part of their lives. David said
he had bought the video camera when his father was under house arrest, knowing he'd be in
jail in six weeks. He wanted to make a record of his father's life. He thought he'd never see
his father again, and wanted to make sure his kids didn't have to read about their grandfather
in the newspaper.
AK: Do you think they're guilty?
AJ: I think there's no way to know exactly what happened at the Friedman house. We
certainly know that Arnold Friedman was a pedophile. But given the quality of the police
work, I don't think there was ever a way for Arnold and Jesse to have found justice in this
case. Whether you think they're guilty or innocent, I don't think they had a chance.
AK: And what about Jesse?
AJ: In the three years that I was working with him, I never found him to be telling me
anything that wasn't true. I had a lot of chances to check on things, and in general I found
him to be very forthcoming and eager for me to learn more. He would ask, "Have you
spoken with this person? Have you checked with that detective? Have you talked to that
victim?"
AK: Not necessarily the signs of a man who is guilty. What does the family think of the
movie's success?
AJ: I think they're happy with it. They feel I was honest when I said to them I wanted to
make a fair film. For David it's a little more challenging because he had to deal with the
potential impact on his career as a clown, but for Jesse it was obviously something he wanted
to do from the beginning. He still has restrictions on him because he's subject to Megan's
Law. He has an electronic sensor on his ankle, he's not allowed to live in a building that has
children, he can't go to a park, he can't hold most jobs. He's had a pretty tough time.
Much of the footage in "Capturing the Friedmans" is
taken from the family's own home movie collection
before and during the child abuse investigation.
AJ: He's trying to make a motion to get his conviction vacated, and I think I need to help him
do it. I just think the system failed him horribly, and he needs another chance for an
evaluation of the case.
AK: What's it like to be at the forefront of the documentary renaissance, with your film,
"Spellbound," and "Winged Migration" all getting acclaim?
AJ: I think it's just a year when everything has been very black-and-white. The news is
always reporting things like "some bad guys did some bad things and we got 'em." We know
now that that's not true. The news tells us that Gary Condit killed Chandra Levy, but no one
bothers to mention six months later that "oh, by the way, that never happened."
AK: That's a very good point.
AJ: You hear about the huge corporate monsters that pollute the environment, but you never
hear how they go home, talk to their kids about not littering, worry about the environment --
but realize they still have to make a living, and are conflicted about it.
AK: It's a very grey world.
AJ: And the public just has a certain desire to absorb these kinds of stories.
