Documentary makes use of home movies, news footage to tell tale

Home movies typically offer an innocuous and comfortable view of family life. But they serve as a jarring, revealing counterpoint in the brilliant documentary "Capturing the Friedmans."

Woven into the story of a suburban New York family riven by accusations of perversion, the footage of trips, dinners and hugs take on a surreal quality as a bitter and ugly reality unfolds.

The film, a 2004 Oscar nominee directed by Andrew Jarecki, tells the story of Arnold Friedman, his wife and children through intimate and increasingly bleak film footage, news accounts and interviews.

In the late 1980s, Friedman and his teenage son, Jesse, were accused of molesting dozens of children during computer classes in their Great Neck, N.Y., home.

Jesse pleaded guilty to sex abuse charges and served 13 years in prison but continues to insist on his innocence. His father, who was also convicted of sending child pornography through the mail, died in prison in 1995.

The documentary is unsparing in its revelations as the accused Friedmans try to fend off prosecution and as family members offer support or, in sometimes unexpected ways, turn on each other.

It was a different Jarecki project, "Just a Clown," a short film about party clowns in New York, that brought him to the Friedman story: another Friedman son, David, was among the performers.

Critics lauded "Capturing the Friedmans" for its nuanced exploration of the family and the criminal case, but some with a personal stake were less enthralled.

Earlier this year, two men whom Jesse Friedman pleaded guilty to sexually abusing as boys called the film a slap at molestation victims and said Friedman was "being paraded like a celebrity" during Oscar season.

"Capturing the Friedmans" debuts 8 p.m. Thursday on HBO. "Just a Clown" shows the next night, Friday, at 6:30 p.m.

Other shows to look out for:

Extremely important makeovers are the subject of HGTV's "Restore America: 2004," a progress report on the restoration of 12 historic buildings. The structures are part of the Save America's Treasures program to preserve cultural landmarks in danger of being lost. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta is among those featured in the special, debuting 4 p.m. Sunday.

The race is on, again. CBS' Emmy-winning reality show "The Amazing Race 5" returns with 11 couples in an international competition for a $1 million prize and solid bragging rights. The first leg of the trip stretches from a pier in Santa Monica, Calif., to Uruguay, with tension and gamesmanship aplenty from the airport on. Among the teams: the euphonically named twins Kami and Karli; brother-restaurateurs Marshall and Lance, and "Internet dating couple" Bob and Joyce. The roughly 30-day, round-the-world trek requires the pairs to face challenges at each destination and elimination when they fall behind. The series begins with a special 90-minute episode at 9:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday.

-- Film buffs show their stuff in IFC's "Ultimate Film Fanatic," which tests knowledge of movie trivia and more for a $10,000 prize and the chance to serve as IFC programming director for a night (following in the footsteps of famous one-night-standers Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith, who presumably didn't have to pass a quiz). Although questions include such minutiae as the brand of whiskey Bill Murray's character pitches in "Lost in Translation," there's also the chance for macho demonstrations of film literacy (compare-contrast the virtues of the original "Lolita" and the remake). The series, with Traci Lords and Richard Roundtree among its celebrity judges, begins Friday at 10:30 p.m. EST and builds to an Aug. 17 finale.

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EDITOR'S NOTE -- Lynn Elber can be reached at lelber(at)ap.org