(Untitled)

[eliciam]

I finally saw "Capturing The Friedmans" last night. Has anyone else seen it? I am not not sure what to believe but the multiple charges and witness accounts really seem improbable. Plus the family is so screwed up to begin with. Does anyone think that they did it?

Comments

[zoomardav]

I think the father definitely had molested more boys that he admitted to, but there is no way any of that stuff in the classroom happened. That stuff is all prompted by questions asked by the police.

Obviously the stories don't make any sense. It's just like recovered memories of ritual satanic abuse. They all follow the same basic archetypal story.

Have you seen Stevie yet? I should loan that one to you.

[eliciam]

I rented Stevie too but haven't seen it yeet. I agree with you, the classroom stuff seems just about impossible. Yeah I do think that he molested more boys than he owned up to in the letter, possible one of his sons. I really don't know what to think about Jesse.

[amandageyer]

I just put it in my Netflix queue, thanks, will let you know what I think! :)

[eliciam]

I think you'll like it. But be warned, it is not pretty. No Spellbound that's for sure. I am kind of enjoying the trend in documentaries these days.

[catania]

I just purchased it the other day. I agree with david in the sense that the father did commit some of those acts, but if the judge figures-- if he did a couple, why wouldn't he have been guilty of the 150 other charges.

I didn't really approve of the thrown in dialectic that false memories may have occured. I don't think that showing one clipping of a newspaper article showing the research on false memories, then showing an interview clip of an expert on false memories is enough to make that point. It's as if the film maker was looking for something just to add another side to the whole thing.

Have you seen american splendor?

[eliciam]

I loved American Splendor. I also watched "Stevie" last night, reccomended by zomardav, which deals with some similar subject matter but focuses on the life of the perpetrator. Very interesting and moving.

I kind of disagree with you about the false memories angle because not only did they interview and expert but they also interviewed some of the boys and the differences in perspectives were really interesting. I thought that the guy on the couch was just outright lying his ass off.

[catania]

I tried watching stevie but it just made me too depressed-- i didn't finish it. but, maybe i'll give it another whirl at a later date.

Yeah, and i guess they did interview the guy who did go to the computer class and had no memory of the incidents, but the debate and idea of false memories itself wasn't explored enough. though they interviewed people with differing perspectives, that didn't help us to understand the complexity or issues behind false memories-- it just showed us that people remembered the computer class differently.

[eliciam]

Very good point. They could have gone into the psychology of it a bit more, taken a more academic approach.