Capturing the Friedmans

May 30, 2003

1h 47m

★ 7.1

Who do you believe?

Overview

An Oscar nominated documentary about a middle-class American family who is torn apart when the father Arnold and son Jesse are accused of sexually abusing numerous children. Director Jarecki interviews people from different sides of this tragic story and raises the question of whether they were rightfully tried when they claim they were innocent and there was never any evidence against them.

Genres

Documentary

Crime

Production Companies

HBO Documentary Films

Notorious Pictures

Magnolia Pictures

Capturing the Friedmans Trailers

Cast

Self (archive footage)

Arnold Friedman

Self

Elaine Friedman

Self

David Friedman

Self

Jesse Friedman

Self (archive footage)

Seth Friedman

Self - Postal Inspector

John McDermott

Self - Ret. Director, Sex Crimes Unit

Frances Galasso

Self - Detective, Sex Crimes Unit

Anthony Sgueglia

Self - Asst. District Attorney

Joseph Onorato

Self - Jesse's Best Friend in High School

Judd Martin

Self - Arnold's Brother

Howard Friedman

Self - Former Computer Student

Ron Georgalis

What would your family reminiscences about dad sound like if he had been an early supporter of Hitler’s, a leader of the notorious SA and the Third Reich’s minister in charge of Slovakia, including its Final Solution? Executed as a war criminal in 1947, Hanns Ludin left behind a grieving widow and six young children, the youngest of whom became a filmmaker. It's a fascinating, maddening, sometimes even humorous look at what the director calls "a typical German story." (Film Forum)

9.0

Martha: A Picture Story

Nov 28, 2019

In 1970s New York, photographer Martha Cooper captured some of the first images of graffiti at a time when the city had declared war on it. Decades later, Cooper has become an influential godmother to a global movement of street artists.

7.1

Rewind

Apr 27, 2019

Digging through the vast collection of his father's home videos, a young man reconstructs the unthinkable story of his boyhood and exposes vile abuse passed through generations.

6.0

95 and 6 to Go

Oct 22, 2016

Filmmaker Kimi Takesue captures the cadence of daily life for Grandpa Tom, a retired postal worker born to Japanese immigrants to Hawai’i in the 1910s. Amidst the solitude of his home routines — coupon clipping, rigging an improvised barbecue, lighting firecrackers on the New Year — we glimpse an unexpectedly rich inner life.

6.8

The Woodsman

Dec 24, 2004

After twelve years in prison, Walter returns home. His family has abandoned him, save for his brother-in-law. Few know he's a sex offender and pedophile. Walter finds an apartment and is regularly visited by his parole officer. He gets a job at a lumber mill and starts seeing a coworker. Then his new world begins to unravel; as his past becomes known, he strikes up a high-risk friendship with a young girl and realizes that a man loitering near a schoolyard is a child molester prowling for his next victim.

5.5

Striptease

Jun 28, 1996

Bounced from her job, Erin Grant needs money if she's to have any chance of winning back custody of her child. But, eventually, she must confront the naked truth: to take on the system, she'll have to take it all off. Erin strips to conquer, but she faces unintended circumstances when a hound dog of a Congressman zeroes in on her and sharpens the shady tools at his fingertips, including blackmail and murder.

6.4

Wallander: The Secret

Nov 10, 2006

11-year-old Johannes is found raped and murdered. Investigations lead to a pedophile ring and detective Stefan Lindman's dark secret.

0.0

We still kick each other under the table

Invalid Date

What it is like to have a younger sibling

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0.0

Cruising Do's and Don'ts

Mar 21, 2007

Tips for what to expect when taking a vacation aboard a cruise ship, and how to make the most of the trip.

3.1

Give Us Tomorrow

Nov 30, 1978

Masked intruders take the family of a bank manager hostage in order to rob his bank.

No Image Available

0.0

Charlie Louvin: Still Rattlin' the Devil's Cage

Sep 3, 2011

Fifty years later, and he's still rattlin' the Devil's cage. Charlie Louvin can walk through a crowded mall and not attract attention. But it shouldn't be that way; the humble 83-year-old musician in the cowboy hat and jeans is a true American hero. To start, 50 years ago he and his brother recorded "Satan is Real," an album that shook up the music business. And the life he lived thereafter was pretty radical, too, from his military service to his country to his 61-year marriage to his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Grand Ole Opry. On Friday, December 3, 2010 at the fooBAR in Nashville, we caught Charlie Louvin on stage, making music for his fans, celebrating the anniversary of that famous album. And we filmed the night for history's sake. This is the tribute he so richly deserves.

7.0

Bad Boy Bubby

Sep 1, 1993

Bad Boy Bubby is just that: a bad boy. So bad, in fact, that his mother has kept him locked in their house for his entire thirty years, convincing him that the air outside is poisonous. After a visit from his estranged father, circumstances force Bubby into the waiting world, a place which is just as unusual to him as he is to the world.

6.9

The Treatment

Jan 29, 2014

Inspector Nick Cafmeyer seems to have it all - looks, brains and a successful career. But a dark cloud hangs over his life: since the age of nine, he has been haunted by the unsolved disappearance of his younger brother, Bjorn. Plettinckx, a known sex offender, was questioned but quickly released. Plettinckx lives close by and takes fiendish pleasure in harassing Nick. Then, when a disturbing case comes to light involving a missing nine-year-old, Nick heads a massive search which turns into a relentless manhunt.

6.6

To Die For

Sep 22, 1995

Suzanne Stone wants to be a world-famous news anchor and she is willing to do anything to get what she wants. What she lacks in intelligence, she makes up for in cold determination and diabolical wiles. As she pursues her goal with relentless focus, she is forced to destroy anything and anyone that may stand in her way, regardless of the ultimate cost or means necessary.

6.5

The Phoenician Scheme

May 23, 2025

Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins.

7.4

Bad Education

Mar 19, 2004

When an old friend brings filmmaker Enrique Goded a semi-autobiographical script chronicling their adolescence, Enrique is forced to relive his youth spent at a Catholic boarding school.

0.0

Passing Time

Apr 6, 2019

Lou Colpé has been filming her grandparents since she was 15. In the process of this intense relationship, she notices some disconcerting signs in her grandmother: Alzheimer’s is slowing her down. A new film begins, a tougher one: the story of a couple that must face a tremendous challenge. Struggling against the tide of oblivion, the task of filmmaking becomes the ultimate act of resistance. Trying to retain the last images of her grandparents, an intimate conversation begins and echoes through the songs that play on the radio, conjuring lost stories and memories.

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3.0

The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse

Mar 1, 2010

Directed in 1980 and released in 2013. On the issue of addiction in Iran in the 1980s. Mohsen's father is going to pass away soon due to an illness, however, Mohsen himself has been missing for 6 months. A BSc medicine student, he has become a drug addict and lost himself in the slums. Setting out to help him out of his conditions, and deliver his mother's care to him, his father starts searching for him. The movie is embedded in the social conditions of the 70s AD Iran, has a 70s Iranian chivalric tincture, religious color-as was the climate of the Iranian society at the time- and is blended with historic state propaganda. For the audience of that time, this movie would have received a fair score, as it touches on religious notions. However, the issue it addresses is far more complicated and sophisticated at this age, and its propaganda outlook can no longer attract significant commercial or critical attention.

8.5

Neirud

Jun 14, 2023

Neirud died shrouded in mystery, leaving behind no trace of her past. Confronting family secrets, the filmmaker pieces together the life of her enigmatic aunt, who toured Brazil as a wrestler in an underground all-female circus troupe throughout the 60s and 80s. As she investigates Neirud's controversial ring persona, Gorilla Woman, the filmmaker uncovers a taboo-breaking love story, revealing the surprising nature of Neirud's role in her own family.