A good movie

I came across this documentary while watching a talk-show where a Dutch actress was mentioning some very interesting movies and this movie was one of those she chose to talk about. Eventually, it is a very peculiar and interesting documentary dealing with a rather unsettling subject. The interesting approach is that the makers used their own footage but also had unlimited access to the Friedmans own home videos which is really surprising that the Friedmans would allow this, especially considering the controversial nature of this documentary. The other interesting thing is how neutral they managed to keep the whole thing. Eventually, it is some pretty heavy stuff since you see this family basically melting down and you are never sure if they actually deserve it or not. It works also as a cautionary tale. I mean, can you imagine how many unaware kids get back home and tell their parents ‘My teacher told me to touch his penis’ when, in fact, nothing happened but the kid is just pissed off with the guy. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t take such accusations seriously but such false accusations can and have ruined many innocent lives before. I mean, there is today such an hysteria, such an obsession about pedophilia and people seem to forget that it has always been there ever since men has discovered they could have sex. It used to be taboo and nobody would talk about it but nowadays, it is everywhere and people are scared to leave their kids with their teacher, with their sport instructors, with their neighbors, even with their own kin and I’m not so sure if it is really an improvement. Anyway, let’s get back to this movie. Even though I think it was pretty good, I still think there was still one major flaw though. Indeed, even though we are never sure if Arnold Friedman did molest those children or not, the fact remains that the guy is a pedophile since he had this huge stash of pedophile magazines hidden in his house. Surprisingly, it is actually never mentioned by his sons and wife during the whole thing and instead they keep focusing on the molesting charges, which were false according to them. I mean, if I would discover that my dad would have such magazines in his house, I would probably drop him and never see him again for the rest of my life. So, maybe the guy was innocent from touching those kids, but he sure was a sick pervert and that aspect was really undermined during the whole thing. Still, it remains a very distressing documentary and it is definitely worth a look, if you are up to it because it is honestly rather depressing.

7/10