Last night I watched Capturing the Friedmans, which is up for Best Feature Documentary this year. It was just incredibly compelling, even though at times it was highly disturbing. Arnold Friedman, a schoolteacher in Long Island, was accused of child molestation during the 1980s, as was his 18-year old son, Jesse. They both eventually pled guilty and went to prison; Jesse was just released, but Arnold committed suicide over a decade ago. What made it interesting was the fact that the family were really into home movies, so they filmed themselves throughout the entire time between the first search and when both men went to prison. So, you have this tape of the brothers yelling at the dad, "Mom thinks you're guilty! Mom wants you to plead and go to jail!" Just...wow.

I liked this documentary for many of the same reasons I liked the documentaries on the West Memphis Three. There is this element of community vicimization hysteria in both instances that both intrigues me and kind of freaks me out; there's still this witch trial atmosphere that exists in tight-knit communities, it's unbelieveable. I am positive that the West Memphis Three are innocent, but I don't know about the Friedmans. It certainly wasn't a cut and dry case. Based on only what I saw in the documentary, I feel like the youngest son wasn't guilty, but I can't say the same thing about the father. Still though, it's a great film, and it's my current movie recommendation.

current mood: good
music: Catatonia, "Road Rage"