Exonerating the Friedmans

Sometimes, after the credits roll, another—more important—story begins. In 2003, Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling released Capturing the Friedmans, the story of an average middle-class Jewish family destroyed by sex abuse charges against their then 18-year-old son, Jesse, and his father, Arnold. The film was nominated for an Academy Award, won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, and graced the tops of countless lists of best documentaries of all time. Amid all the praise, though, was a nagging sense—lobbed by some—that the filmmakers were ultimately too ambiguous about their main subject’s innocence or guilt.  Full Article