Capturing the Friedmans

[natalie_1982]

Hi I watched bits of this film/ doc last night and was interested on people's thoughts (or if you could run through that film as I saw about 20 mins within the first hour and then saw the last half hour so missed loads and wasn't sure who was who). To me it seemed really weird and I swung between believing the Freidmans at first and then believing the police. By then end I thought the friedmans were guilty....

[natalie_1982]

as it just seemed to weird the way that boy, Jesse, was acting before he was due to stand in court. The family seemed a little odd too, but the police really really odd.

Just interested in your thoughts! Ta

[Englishbird]

I kept changing my mind too and then I felt guilty for getting it wrong!

Right up to the last half hour, I thought they were innocent! Then that lawyer told us what Mr Freidman had said in the prison. I think that Arnold Freidman was a paedophile, but I'm not convinced that he abused the boys he got sent away for. I still don't know about Jesse. I think he is a troubled man who displays signs of being abused, but couldn't say whether or not he is a paedophile.

The one I didn't like was the brother David! the Clown, not comfortable with him at all. I think there was a bit of a strange trait running through that family to be honest. I thought the Mother was the most normal, and that's saying something!

[natalie_1982]

What did the lawyer say about Mr Friedman? I think I may have missed that bit too!

[Englishbird]

He was Jesse's lawyer and went to see Mr Freidman after he'd been incarcerated. Jesse was in the waiting room and the lawyer was sitting at a visitors table opposite Mr Freidman. There was a visitor for another prisoner at the next table with a young boy.

Mr Freidman asked the lawyer to ask the guard if they could switch tables, when the lawyer asked why, Mr Friedman said, because that young boy bouncing on that mans knee is getting me very excited. The lawyer said he'd never been so shocked in his life. Mr Freidman went on to say that he had had 'relations' with two boys at a holiday resort they stayed at every year. But that he had not abused anyone in the computer classes.

The lawyer also said that Jesse broke down in his office and admitted that his father had abused him. Although Jesse denys this and says that the lawyer was adamant that Jesse had been abused and nothing he (Jesse) could say would make him think otherwise. Jesse also wanted to make a plea as the sentance was significantly less and he thought that there was no way he would get a fair trial. The lawyer said he could not let Jesse purger himself and he couldn't say he was guilty if he wasn't. Jesse then said that he was guilty and would say so in court. The lawyer never believed that Jesse was guilty.

This might in some way explain how calm he was before the trial, he knew what he had to do, and had decided to get on with it.

There was also a major 'witness' who had only 'remembered' things after he'd be hypnotised. I didn't believe a word he said. And parents of children that were in the computer class who said that nothing had happened to their children but that the local police and some of the other families had put a lot of pressure on them to say that they had.

[natalie_1982]

I do remember that bit now, though I didn;t know about the swapping tables bit. The sad thing I thought was the three cases they had for people adamant that nothing had happened still led to, jointly, something like 90 cases against Jesse Friedman!

[ursaminor85]

Me and my friend went to see this in the cinema. Eh...we were the only ones there funnily enough, not really something you go and see at the flicks but there was nothing else worth watching and we had to kill time. Anyways...i swayed the whole way through it...but then i just became totally convinced they were guilty. Their whole behaviour was just so strange. Clowns have always scared the bejesus out of me too ewww. But there is just something about Jesse's ways that make me think he is not the innocent guy he claims he is. I have to admit though the film swings you back and forth like crazy!