The following exercise involves selecting from a list of ingredients that make up 'Capturing the Friedmans' and deciding where they lie along a line representing their relative truthfulness. If something seems likely to be very truthful then click on the button towards the left-hand end of the scale and if the element seems more vulnerable to manipulation then click on the button at the other end.

The descriptions also contain details of the context and sometimes the accompanying soundtrack or interviews. Try to weigh up the truthfulness of these moments as they emerge out of a combination of all these elements.

Once you have decided an order, print this page out and try to explain why you have arranged the elements in this way. Can you think of ways in which the moments you have greatest faith in as being ‘truthful’ could actually be manipulated?

Capturing the Friedmans: Truth/Fiction

Cine-film footage of David Freedman as a twelve-year-old or so announcing "This film may be hazardous to your health. The cast has been picked at random from the funny farm". The sequence comes near the start of the film.

We hear Elaine Freedman in voice-over introducing her family while a series of cine-film sequences are shown: "Jesse keeps trying to catch up" says Elaine as we see him as a three or four-year old running along a beach with a rubber ring around him.

Archive news footage of David Friedman wearing a pair of pants on his head shouting "I'm an arsehole" and "they’re harassing my father for no reason at all". The occasion was the 4th July when the local police descended on the Friedman house in order to search it and to arrest Arnold following accusations from children he taught that he had abused them.

Shots showing the outside of a local prison. Views of the buildings from a distance and of razor wire on the tops of walls. This sequence included Howard Friedman (Arnold's younger brother) describing his visit to see Arnold in prison following his arrest.

An enactment by David of a card trick in the clown outfit. He does it against a plain white background. At the end of the trick the king of clubs becomes the queen of hearts. This is performed between descriptions of how Arnold encouraged David's magic and how he, Arnold, had refused on graduating to pursue a 'commonplace' career - choosing to become a band leader Arnito Ray performing in clubs in the Catskill Mountains.

An aerial shot of Great Neck showing it to be a peninsula largely covered in expensive housing. The sequence is accompanied by a somewhat child-like tune while Elaine Friedman describes the area as comprising 'a very insulated community'.

An anonymous interviewee, his face in shadow, recalling how he and other boys when visiting the Friedman's home to attend Arnold's computer club were made to play a grotesque version of leapfrog by Arnold and Jesse. This involved them bending over naked while father and son Friedman took the opportunity to abuse them one by one.

Debbie Nathan a freelance investigative journalist describing to camera how strange it was that despite the scale of the abuse taking place and the numbers involved there was absolutely no physical evidence on the boys that they had been mistreated. Also, she describes how, despite parents turning up at the Friedman household unannounced on occasion and often picking them up from their extra-curricular piano lessons and computing sessions, there was not one account of a child emerging from the Friedman home in a distressed state. And this despite the colossal scale of child abuse allegedly going on.

Cine-film of Arnold Friedman back home again on bail preparing himself for his trial. He is being filmed by one of his sons pretending to be an interviewer. "Sir, sir, do you care to comment on the situation", says the cameraman. "Yes, I think this is a kitchen", says Arnold. The camera then zooms in on his nose and his mouth. "I feel like I am being dissected here", says Arnold.

Archive footage, showing a young girl dancing in a back yard in a ballet dress. The film has been slowed down. It is an old piece of film showing Arnold and Howard Friedman's sister. We learn that she died of blood poisoning and that it destroyed the boys' parents’ marriage. Arnold and Howard ended up living in a single room basement with their mother.

A close-up of a cow. It is succeeded by further shots of cows in a field and the sequence is used to illustrate the idea of the country. Jesse’s attorney Peter Panaro is describing how, as part of his preparation of a defence for Jesse, he travelled to see Arnold in prison in Madison, Wisconsin. During the interview, Penaro reports, Arnold admitted feeling excited seeing a young boy at a neighbouring table visiting another prisoner. It is the shot of the cows that you should consider for its 'truthfulness'.

Another anonymous interviewee, his face also in shadow, recalling how he gave evidence of being assaulted during visits to the Friedman's in order to escape the police questioning. "Detectives put a lot of pressure on me", he admits.

We see a whirling spiral shape comprising red, yellow and white panels. This illustrates a section in which an alleged victim of abuse in the Friedman household admits recalling incidents only under hypnosis.

David Friedman talking to camera. He is self-filming. He describes how frightened he feels. "Six months from now", he says, "I will have no mother, no father and no brother". He is tearful.

While David films Jesse in the corridors of the courthouse using their video camera, an irate father attacks them. We hear screams of "You raped my son" and the camera begins to swing about wildly. We hear one or other of the Friedman boys saying "Oh, my God".

Almost the last scene of the film - Elaine waits to see Jesse on the day of his release from jail. There is knock on the hotel room door. She gets up tentatively opens the door and looks out around it. She shuts the door. She opens the door again. We see Jesse and he says:"Did you order a son?"