Author Topic: Documentary on Child Abuse Cases - Must See  (Read 2543 times)

Offline louisev

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Documentary on Child Abuse Cases - Must See
« on: June 27, 2011, 03:07:36 pm »
 
this weekend, taking a break from studying for a certification test because I was just going nuts over it, I went to my Netflix recommendations, and since I've seen a number of documentaries, it offered me up a recommendation on a documentary from 2003 I had never heard of (probably because I was out of the country) - "Capturing the Friedmans", directed and produced by Andrew Jarecki, an independent film that won the grand prize at Sundance in 2003 and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary in that year.

Here's some details:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capturing_the_Friedmans

What is so mesmerizing about this film is that it introduces the subject of a real-life family in very minimalistic terms - no voiceover narration, and seamless splices of family Super 8's from many different periods of time, including during the prosecution of Arnold Friedman, a retired physicist and science teacher, and his teenage son Jesse.  This criminal investigation came about during an era in which therapist and prosecutors had frenziedly pursued several schools and daycare centers for alleged child sexual abuse and ritual satanic abuse.  Nearly all of these cases resulted in either hung juries, overturned convictions, or expensive prosecutions which never led to a conviction.  This case is the exception.

Jarecki made this film by serendipity:  one of the co-founders of MoviePhone, he cashed out his profits and decided to do a film on children's party entertainers in New York, and found himself intrigued by a man with the reputation as the "best clown in New York", who went by the professional name of "Silly Billy."  There was something haunting about him, and upon interviewing him, he found out that "Silly Billy's real name is David Friedman, originally from Great Neck, NY, the oldest son of Arnold Friedman, who had been convicted of dozens of sex crimes in the 1980's, and whose brother, Jesse, was likewise convicted and serving a sentence of 10-18 years at Dannemora.  From there, Jarecki gathered together hours and hours of home movies, conducted interviews with 50 accusers, the judge, the prosecutor, the FBI, and experts in this case which had never actually gone to trial, because both defendants pled guilty.

The movie left me agape with disbelief.  If anyone has read my blog they would know that child sexual abuse is something I am unfortunately all too familiar with, and knowing what I do about the years of secret suffering of children, it seemed to be not only incredible, but unbelievable, that anyone would have brought charges against these men on the basis of the evidence they had.  Yes, you read that right.  There was no evidence.  The only circumstantial evidence that really existed, was that the father had been caught red-handed by the FBI with a magazine of child pornography he had bought from the Netherlands, and a home search revealed a pile of hidden magazines containing child porn, including adult-child pictures. They also found a list of billing notices to parents of over 180 boys who enrolled in computer classes in Friedman's basement, where he taught the emerging technology of "personal computing" with 8-11 year olds with the help of his 17 year old son Jesse.

Without any other complaints or evidence, a group of therapists and police sprang into action, canvassed the town for every student, and what happens after that will boggle the mind.

It wasn't until 2010, 15 years after Arnold Friedman committed suicide in prison, that the District Attorney for Eastern New York was instructed by the 2nd Circuit US Court of Appeals, to investigate and review the evidence that led to Jesse Friedman's guilty plea without trial.  Arnold Friedman, an admitted pedophile, with proof of child pornography in his possession and written admissions to a defense investigator that he had molested his younger brother and two neighbor children in the years before moving to Great Neck, and received therapy, insisted until his death that he had never touched his students, nor had Jesse.

What is left out of the film and was written up in Slate when the director was interviewed after the film came out, is that Jarecki could find only one student who continued to maintain that he had been molested; and in the film he admits openly that he remembered nothing until therapists hypnotized him.  And then it was all 'in his head, just like that.'  Despite the fact that memories retrieved under hypnosis are barred as evidence in New York State, hypnosis sessions such as these led the judge, former head of a sex crimes unit in New York, to threaten a lifetime of imprisonment, and did not disclose to the defendants that the evidence was gained under coercive interrogation and hypnosis.

For anyone who has an interest in criminal justice and investigation, this film is an unforgettable document of the sexual abuse hysteria of the 80's.  Not your typical SVU, that is for sure!

It's available on Youtube for free, and on instant watch from Netflix.
“Mr. Coyote always gets me good, boy,”  Ellery said, winking.  “Almost forgot what life was like before I got me my own personal coyote.”


Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Documentary on Child Abuse Cases - Must See
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2011, 04:00:28 pm »
Quote
If anyone has read my blog they would know that child sexual abuse is something I am unfortunately all too familiar with, and knowing what I do about the years of secret suffering of children, it seemed to be not only incredible, but unbelievable, that anyone would have brought charges against these men on the basis of the evidence they had.  Yes, you read that right.  There was no evidence.

This is fascinating, Louise. The Friedman case sounds like another example of what I call the witch-hunting that was going on then.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline louisev

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Re: Documentary on Child Abuse Cases - Must See
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2011, 09:55:02 pm »
This is fascinating, Louise. The Friedman case sounds like another example of what I call the witch-hunting that was going on then.

It sure was.  It also hails from an era in which therapists believed that hypnosis and confrontation would break through the 'denial' that children had about being molested by complete strangers, when in actual fact, children rarely ever will lie, and when questioned in a safe manner, without leading, and without pressure, will generally tell a trustworthy adult everything that has happened to them, in gory detail.  It takes little encouragement, once the child knows he or she is safe, to overcome the inhibition against secrecy imposed on them by threats and intimidation.  Which is how child victims are handled nowadays.  One of Friedman's students, who appeared in the film, denied that he was abused at any time during his many classes, and never witnessed anything beyond actual computer training with his many classmates.  But police interviewed him repeatedly.  His parents were so uncomfortable with the way the police treated him that they secretly videotaped a session, which shows the interviewer browbeating the boy and repeatedly insisting he was lying.   When the parents saw the tape they wouldn't allow any more interviews.  This was typical treatment of those children.  So who was abusing Arnold Friedman's students, in the final analysis?  The police.  And that videotape is evidence.
“Mr. Coyote always gets me good, boy,”  Ellery said, winking.  “Almost forgot what life was like before I got me my own personal coyote.”