CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS : 1980s investigation of Arnold and Jesse Friedman for child molestation

The story began when Andrew Jerecki (director) initially was going to make a film about children's birthday party entertainers in New York, including the popular clown David Friedman. However, during his research, Jarecki learned that David Friedman's brother, Jesse, and his father, Arnold, had been convicted of child sexual abuse.Investigators found a collection of child pornography in his home and found that Arnold Friedman received a magazine of child pornography from the Netherlands by mail.

Capturing the Friedmans" is one of those rare films whose subject matter alone can wipe you out emotionally. In that sense, Jarecki effectively puts the viewer on par with his subjects, an average American family named the Friedmans ,a father, a mother and their three sons from Great Neck, N.Y.  that found itself first at the center of a scandal and then the target of community and media hysteria. As the family unit quickly unravels and melts down, we are made to feel empathetic, even though this feeling is clouded by the nagging ambiguity surrounding the case itself.

Mary Bell Case : Child From Hell

In December 1968, Mary Flora Bell (ten-years-old) was convicted of the manslaughter of two boys, Martin Brown four-years-old) and Brian Howe (three-years-old).

Her mother was a sadomasochistic dominatrix (prostitute) who used her unfortunate daughter with her clients.Mary herself said that she was subject to repeated sexual abuse, her mother forcing her to engage in sex acts with men from the age of five. As Mary grew up she exhibited significant signs of rage including the torture of animals and attempts to kill other children through strangulation, what she referred to as “massage”.  Her understanding of strangulation was not that the victim was dead but that she or he would wake up again, suggesting that perhaps her mother, Betty  suffocated then revived her daughter during prostitution sessions.

May 25,1968

• Mary Bell was convicted on May 25,1968 of strangling toddler Martin Brown , when she was 10 years old. Between that time and the second murder, she and her friend Norma Bell  broke into a Nursery in Scotswood, leaving notes that claimed responsibility for the Brown murder. 

July 31, 1968

• On July 31, 1968, the two took part in the death, again by strangulation, of three-year-old Brian Howe. Police reports concluded that Mary Bell had gone back after killing him to carve an "M" in his stomach with a razor, as well as use scissors to cut off bits of his hair and scrape part of his genitals. 

December 17,1968

• Eventually Mary was convicted of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility and although only a child at the time of her conviction she was sentenced to prison “indefinitely“.  Mary ultimately served twelve years in juvenile and adult prison before she was released.  
• During this time, Mary mailed her mother a letter that read in part, “Please Mam, put my tiny mind at ease, tell judge and jury on your knees. They will listen to your cry of ‘please’. The guilty one is you, not me. I am sorry it has to be this way.  We’ll both cry and you will go away. Tell them you are guilty, please. So then Mam, I’ll be free. Your daughter, May.”

1980

• Bell was released from prison in 1980 (aged 23), and was granted anonymity to start a new life (under an assumed name) with her daughter. 

Child of Rage : The Horrific Story of Abused Child

Child of Rage documents the horrific effects of sexual abuse upon a young child named Beth. Consisting primarily of short clips of Beth being interviewed by a clinical psychiatrist, we learn from both Beth herself, and the additional research done by the TV crew, that she was sexually violated and neglected at a young age by her birth father. This has resulted in the immersion of reactive attachment disorder, a psychiatric condition which, in this case, can in many ways be compared to sociopathy, although their causes are radically different. Beth simply does not feel empathy, and she lacks the ability to connect with others, a product of her mind’s attempts to shut out and detach herself from her past abuse.

Within this film this young girl admits to engaging in highly sadistic, cruel, and often sexual acts upon her brother and animals, as well as just generally displaying a blatant disregard for the rights of others, as well as social norms, which includes the right to life. There is a certain poignancy in hearing a young child’s wishes to murder her parents, as well as her attempts to kill her brother. Demonstrating how abuse can turn innocent young individuals into brutal, remorseless killers, Child of Rage ultimately expresses hope that, if caught at a young enough age, reactive attachment disorder can be treated with rigorous therapy, and the damage reversed, thus bringing a conscience back to a child who would otherwise go through life without one. Beth’s final interview, where she breaks down in remorse for her past self, is truly a tear-jerker.

Beth (now)

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