Capturing the Friedmans

Qwest told me it would be three weeks until it could work on my phone lines, so I finally got frustrated last week and fired the former U.S. West. I've gone completely wireless for phone...fortunately, living on a ridgeline means there's enough signal to do that out here in the woods a ways. I've also bitten the bullet (actually the wallet) and have ordered satellite internet. The odds of cable and DSL ever getting out here are microscopic.

What's with the phone service? The excuse a few years ago used to be that the Willamette Valley was booming so much so that Qwest sent the best/newest equipment and service up there and essentially left Southern Oregon with the scraps. I have no idea how they can explain their poor service here anymore. There was an article in the local paper this evening that Qwest is calling in extra support to Southern Oregon to reduce the 3-4 week wait times...too late for this former customer.

So, out with the two phone lines (one for internet...max a pathetic 26.4K), a cell phone with minimal service for calling while travelling and emergencies, and internet service. In with a cell phone for full day-to-day use (I'm not a phone addict) and satellite internet service. The costs per month are basically the same. The difference is the upfront costs for purchase and installation the satellite internet equipment (OUCH!) minus leaving the phone lines dead.

At least I can blog...Pril (as in Nth of Pril) has lost that temporarily...will update the link to the right when she gets her fine blog set up anew.

Meanwhile, having to travel to borrow my parent's phone line for surfing and blogging the last several days has definitely chopped my computer time. So, I did something different and caught up on a movie I'd been intending to watch. With the number of posts I've written on actual and alleged incidents of pedophilia, I hadn't yet seen the documentary "Capturing the Friedmans." Shame on me...what an outstanding film.

Arnold Friedman and middle son Jesse pled guilty to various counts of sexual abuse in a high profile pedophilia case in the '80s on Long Island. The documentary does a remarkable job of showing the complexity of these mass sex abuse cases...the denial, hysteria of the public, how various police techniques can lead to false and/or twisted confessions, the problems that multiply in dysfunctional families, how people can see and interpret the same events so differently, the incredible fallibility of memories, on and on.

The whole issue started to tumble when the postal service accidentally discovered that Arnold Friedman was receiving child pornography from Holland. After that, trying to figure out who's right, wrong, wronged, confused, deceitful, in denial, etc. is really compelling and shows how complex pedophilia cases can be.

One of the things that helps the film is that the Friedmans were compulsive about filming their own lives. What started out as a typical chronicling of a family growing up and enjoying life became a compulsive coping mechanism which allows us a voyeuristic view of a number of fascinating, often creepy and uncomfortable glimpses of a family and lives falling apart.

Capturing the Friedmans is a great film on a number of levels. Even if you haven't the slightest interest in pedophilia, this documentary should fascinate you.