CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS (TV)

Summary

A documentary film about the Friedman family of Great Neck, New York and the 1988 child molestation case surrounding them, as told through interviews and footage recorded by the family themselves.

The family discusses its history, and the upbringing of the Friedman boys, David, Seth, and Jesse. Their father, Arnold Friedman, moves to Great Neck, New York shortly after graduating from Columbia University. Previously he played in a mambo band known as “Arnito Rey and his Orchestra,” using it as his nom de plume. He becomes a schoolteacher and enjoys spending time around children, although David claims that he constantly spent time instructing either his students or his sons in order to avoid his wife Elaine. According to David, Arnold dies from a spontaneous heart attack and at that point had been separated from Elaine for several years. In 1987, the United States Postal Service confiscates a delivery of child pornography from the Netherlands addressed to Arnold. They initiate a correspondence with him in order to determine if he is further involved, and Arnold sends child pornography of his own in exchange. Law enforcement officials secure a warrant and obtain a magazine passed around in the exchange, as well as a secret cache of other pornographic materials. Elaine recounts that Arnold kept this private from the rest of the family and states that he did not act on any feelings he may have had. The police also seize a list of names of students from a computer class he taught out of his basement.

The Nassau County Police Department investigates the list of names and sends out detectives to interview the families of the children listed. Many of the parents of these children call for immediate action, although the police are hesitant to charge Arnold with sexual abuse, as they know that even the charge itself is often ruinous. Nevertheless, a charge is made and Arnold is arrested the day before Thanksgiving. David, at that time working as a party clown, comes upon this scene and gets into an altercation with the police, who do not allow him to enter the house. Jesse arrives soon thereafter and he is arrested as well, accused of physically harming several of the boys in Arnold’s computer class. Jesse’s best friend Judd Maltin does not agree with the police’s assessment, claiming that such physical or sexual abuse is not in Jesse’s character and that he did not witness it while visiting the Friedman house on many occasions. Bail is set at one million dollars, posing a conundrum for Arnold and Jesse. Arnold’s brother Howard recounts visiting him in prison, where he had been targeted by other inmates.

Arnold’s case goes to trial, the first in Nassau County to be recorded on camera; Arnold and Jesse are charged with 91 counts of sodomy and sexual abuse. They both plead “not guilty.” Some find it difficult to believe that Arnold is guilty, as he has a reputation as a decorated and well-respected member of the local teaching community. David recounts that his father proved to be a positive influence on his life, teaching him how to play the piano and encouraging his interests, such as performing stage magic and comedy. The people of Great Neck are disturbed by these proceedings; the community is on a small peninsula on the north shore of Long Island and is described as “insular” and inhabited by upper-class families. The case discusses the particulars of the sexual abuse Arnold supposedly perpetrated, as well as the use of pornographic computer games during the class. One former student recounts an incident in which he swiped one of the game disks from his home, and Arnold threatened him and the rest of the class with a knife. Other students do not recount witnessing any abuse on Arnold’s part and are perplexed by lurid descriptions of sexual activities which supposedly took place. The judge on the trial, Abbey Boklan, recounts that she decided almost immediately that Arnold and Jesse were guilty, describing the case as “someone’s worst nightmare.”

During the trial, David writes a letter to investigative journalist Debbie Nathan, known for her critical examinations of sexual abuse cases and her assertion that a “hysteria” exists which could exacerbate or fabricate claims of sexual abuse where none exists. She calls the charges against Arnold and Jesse “completely implausible” due to a lack of sufficient physical evidence of the abuse. She also points to inconsistencies in the police reports and the mentality of the community which may have proliferated false claims of abuse. Arnold is released from jail after six weeks and placed under house arrest in preparation for his trial. Around this time David gets a video camera and starts recording his interactions with the rest of the family; the boys’ relationship with their parents deteriorates due to the strain of the trial. Jesse also makes audio recordings of the family arguments which ensue. Pressure is put on Elaine to support Arnold and support his plea, but she refuses since she is angry at Arnold for being dishonest with her. Elaine’s rejection of Arnold proves to be deleterious for him, and he undergoes an emotional breakdown. Despite this, the family tries to go about their business as normal in an atmosphere that Jesse describes as chaotic and “almost surreal.”

Elaine recounts her and Arnolds’ courtship, and how she convinced him to marry her. She recounts elements of their sexual relationship; Howard claims that Elaine had numerous problems which made the marriage difficult for both her and Arnold, but carried on regardless. She says she was “ecstatic” upon having her first child but felt ill-equipped to care for him. Howard tells of how he had a sister who died the year before he was born from blood poisoning and who was close with Arnold when they were small children. Elaine believes that her death was the reason that Arnold’s parents divorced. She states that Arnold told her that he witnessed his mother having sex with her boyfriends and as a teenager had sex with Howard. Nathan reads a letter sent to her by Arnold during the trial in which he confirms this claim; Howard says he remembers none of it. The letter to Nathan goes on to say that Arnold also had sexual relations with other teenage boys for a number of years, and that as he grew older he became concerned that he was still attracted to young boys. He states that he became worried that he would molest his own children and went to therapy about it, but the therapist insisted that he should not be concerned.

Jesse and David recount that they, Seth, and Arnold all got along very well growing up, although they always felt somewhat distant from Elaine. She says that she raised money to bail Arnold out of prison and put a great deal of effort into helping him, but felt that her own wishes were being ignored. Video footage from the Friedman family’s Passover Seder in 1988 reveals further emotional tension between the family members, particularly after one of their lawyers calls. Elaine believes that her children had an “idealized” view of their father; she explains that her parents divorced when she was an infant and that it took her years before she realized that her father was to blame. Nathan notes that the Friedmans were unique in that most families of people accused of sexual abuse are “monolithic” in their support of the accused, but that in this case there were clear divisions and contentions in the family unit.

Jesse’s lawyers become convinced that Arnold’s case is not winnable, and so try to focus their efforts on disentangling Jesse from the case in order to save him. They propose that they accomplish this by having Arnold change his plea to guilty. The family discusses their plea options, leading to a heated argument. Arnold refuses to plea guilty and eventually Jesse recounts that he left the decision to Arnold, not giving him direction either way. Faced with this decision, Arnold decides to plea guilty in the hopes of saving Jesse. David believes that Elaine manipulated Arnold into changing his plea; Howard is flabbergasted at this turn of events. On the night before Arnold is to be sent to prison to serve his sentence, David makes a video of the family together. Elaine resents being blamed for what happened to Arnold; he is sentenced to ten to thirty years in prison. Jesse is tried, although his father’s sentencing does not provide him with any protection from his own charges. He and his lawyer fly out to the isolated federal prison in the rural town of Oxford, Wisconsin where Arnold is being held. While being interviewed, Arnold says that he engaged in pedophilic activity, but not in his computer classes: he claims that he molested several boys at the family’s summer home at a beach resort. His letter to Nathan also discusses this incident, although David finds the language to be too ambiguous to be condemning. Elaine recounts finding out about this during a group therapy session and becoming outraged at Arnold.

Concerns are raised about the questioning techniques employed by the Nassau County police; many report that they went into interviewing the children from Arnold’s computer class with the apparent assumption that Arnold had committed a crime, and may have coerced the children they interviewed to recount incidents which did not occur. Nathan talks about these incidents and the techniques used by the therapy sessions administered to the children after the trial; hypnosis is employed despite there being evidence that it could cause false memories. Based on these testimonies, Jesse is arraigned on over 245 charges of sexual abuse, which Nathan believes is excessive. Pressure is put on Jesse to plead guilty in hopes of getting a better deal, and eventually consents to doing so, coming to believe that there is no possibility that the jury would consider listening to him. He tells his lawyer, Peter Panaro, that he was abused by Arnold as a child and enjoyed the attention he received from it, and that he had lied about Arnold’s activities; he states that Jesse thought that if Judge Boklan knew that he was also a victim of abuse he would be granted leniency. Jesse claims that Panaro fabricated this story and devised the strategy for Judge Boklan himself; he claims that he “ran out of options” and felt compelled to plead guilty in light of the lack of defense witnesses or money to hire additional legal counsel.

The night before Jesse is incarcerated, Seth and David help him pack and argue with Elaine, all captured on video tape. On camera, Jesse states that his case will be re-opened and he will be out of prison in about four years. The brothers stay up all night and at one point David shuts off the video camera; he states that he cannot remember anything about the night except for what was caught on camera. He resumes filming the next morning as Jesse drives to the courthouse, and Jesse states on camera that neither he nor his father ever molested any children. In court, Jesse and Panaro claim that Arnold was “a monster” and that Jesse was raised by him “confused about right and wrong.” Judge Boklan is unmoved by Jesse’s tears and recommends that he serve the maximum possible sentence of eighteen years in prison. The trial lets out and on the courthouse steps, David films Jesse, who appears to be in a comical mood; David claims that they were “distracting [them]selves” from the gravity of the situation. The parents of the children involved in the case arrive en masse to the courthouse to protest the sentencing, demanding that Jesse be given a longer sentence. One of them attempts to attack Jesse, an incident which is partially caught on tape by David. Jesse is sent to the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York.

After Jesse is sent away, Elaine divorces Arnold and lives alone for a time in Great Neck, feeling “calm.” Arnold feels intense guilt for Jesse’s imprisonment and contemplates committing suicide in order to get Jesse awarded his sizeable life insurance policy. He follows through on this plan, dying at the age of 63 in 1995 from doxepin intoxication from a massive overdose of antidepressants. David explains how he suffers from depression and cannot tell anyone else about his family history for fear of losing his job. In the present-day, Howard and his partner Jack live on the coast of Oregon, David has a reputation as a successful party clown, and Elaine remarries in 1998 and moves to a cottage in the Berkshires with her new husband. Jesse is released from prison after 13 years and David comes to meet him. They go to visit Elaine, who despite their contentious history is happy to see him.

Details

• NETWORK: HBO
• DATE:
• RUNNING TIME: 1:47:55
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: 103802
• GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
• SUBJECT HEADING: TV - Public affairs/documentaries
• SERIES RUN: HBO - TV, 2003
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Andrew Jarecki … Producer, Director
• Marc Smerling … Producer
• Richard Hankin … Co-Producer
• Jennifer Rogen … Associate Producer
• Peter D. Bové … Line Producer
• Jaye Nydick … Line Producer
• Andrea Morricone … Music by
• Elaine Friedman … Interviewee
• David Friedman … Interviewee
• John McDermott … Interviewee
• Frances Galasso … Interviewee
• Anthony Sgueglia … Interviewee
• Joseph Onorato … Interviewee
• Jesse Friedman … Interviewee
• Judd Maltin … Interviewee
• Howard Friedman … Interviewee
• Ron Georgalis … Interviewee
• Scott Banks … Interviewee
• Abbey Boklan … Interviewee
• Debbie Nathan … Interviewee
• Jerry Bernstein … Interviewee
• Peter Panaro … Interviewee
• Lloyd Doppman … Interviewee
• Jack Fallin … Interviewee
• Arnold Friedman
• Seth Friedman