Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father ****
Directed By: Kurt Kuenne.
Forget Man on Wire and Waltz with Bashir, and any other documentary from 2008. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father is the best documentary to come in 2008. That it didn’t get the attention it deserved – from the critics, from audiences or from awards bodies – is mystifying, because there was not a more affecting, more emotional documentary to be released in the last 12 months.
The film is about filmmaker Kurt Kuenne who goes on a cross country odyssey to track down everyone who ever knew and loved his best friend Andrew Bagby. Andrew was a young med student living thousands of miles from home, reeling from a break-up with his fiancé, when he falls for the wrong woman. This is Shirley Turner, a woman more than 10 years Andrew’s senior, with three kids from previous relationships. At first, Andrew finds a companion in Shirley, but it soon becomes apparent that Shirley has become obsessed with Andrew. Andrew cannot seem to shake her, no matter what he does. After breaking up with her, and putting her on a plan back to her home 1,000 miles away, she shows up on his doorstep one day. Foolishly, he agrees to meet with her. The next day, his body is found.
There is little doubt about who committed the crime, but as the police take their time to build a case against Turner, she flees back to her hometown, St. John’s, Newfoundland. There she is promptly arrested, but the extradition hearings drag on for more than 2 years. In that time, Turner announces that she is pregnant with Andrew’s son, and eventually gives birth to a beautiful baby boy she names Zachary. Andrew’s parents, David and Katherine, move to Newfoundland to be close to their grandson – and are put through hell all over again. Turner is released on bail, and then set back to jail when the extradition is finally proclaimed legal, and then released on bail again as she awaits the Ministry of Justice to actually order her extradition. Through all of this, David and Katherine keep up a relationship with Turner – as it is the only way they can see their grandson. They fall in love with him immediately, and are willing to do anything for him. But when Turner is released on bail a second time, because the judge says that her crime was “specific” and as such, she poses no risk to the community at large, she once again goes off the deep end.
The movie changes focus as it goes along. At first, it seems to be just what the title of the movie suggests – a filmed letter to Zachary where Kuene gets as many of Andrew’s friends and family as possible to share their memories of his father with them. It is clear from the way they speak of him that Andrew was a kind, loving man, who everyone loved dearly. But as the film progresses, it gets angrier – angry at a system that allows Turner out on bail not once, but twice, angry that she is allowed to care for her child despite her obvious problems, angry at what Turner and the system do to Andrew’s parents, who seem to be just as wonderful as Andrew himself. And most of just angry that Andrew was taken away from all the people who loved him.
Kuene is not the most dazzling filmmaker in the world – they film adheres fairly strictly to the archival footage and talking heads structure of most documentaries (when he does stray, for instance by having pictures of the Judges or Turner move their lips like they’re on Conan O’Brien, he probably shouldn’t have), and yet with material this strong it doesn’t matter. The film is made with love, and with an insider’s perspective that only someone who knew Andrew this well could have possibly done. It is an emotionally gut wrenching film, that had me tearing up on more than one occasion. It is fully possible that you’ll come away feeling like you knew Andrew too, and that you’ll be just as angry as the people who need know him. The system failed him. It failed Zachary. It failed everyone.
Directed By: Kurt Kuenne.
Forget Man on Wire and Waltz with Bashir, and any other documentary from 2008. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father is the best documentary to come in 2008. That it didn’t get the attention it deserved – from the critics, from audiences or from awards bodies – is mystifying, because there was not a more affecting, more emotional documentary to be released in the last 12 months.
The film is about filmmaker Kurt Kuenne who goes on a cross country odyssey to track down everyone who ever knew and loved his best friend Andrew Bagby. Andrew was a young med student living thousands of miles from home, reeling from a break-up with his fiancé, when he falls for the wrong woman. This is Shirley Turner, a woman more than 10 years Andrew’s senior, with three kids from previous relationships. At first, Andrew finds a companion in Shirley, but it soon becomes apparent that Shirley has become obsessed with Andrew. Andrew cannot seem to shake her, no matter what he does. After breaking up with her, and putting her on a plan back to her home 1,000 miles away, she shows up on his doorstep one day. Foolishly, he agrees to meet with her. The next day, his body is found.
There is little doubt about who committed the crime, but as the police take their time to build a case against Turner, she flees back to her hometown, St. John’s, Newfoundland. There she is promptly arrested, but the extradition hearings drag on for more than 2 years. In that time, Turner announces that she is pregnant with Andrew’s son, and eventually gives birth to a beautiful baby boy she names Zachary. Andrew’s parents, David and Katherine, move to Newfoundland to be close to their grandson – and are put through hell all over again. Turner is released on bail, and then set back to jail when the extradition is finally proclaimed legal, and then released on bail again as she awaits the Ministry of Justice to actually order her extradition. Through all of this, David and Katherine keep up a relationship with Turner – as it is the only way they can see their grandson. They fall in love with him immediately, and are willing to do anything for him. But when Turner is released on bail a second time, because the judge says that her crime was “specific” and as such, she poses no risk to the community at large, she once again goes off the deep end.
The movie changes focus as it goes along. At first, it seems to be just what the title of the movie suggests – a filmed letter to Zachary where Kuene gets as many of Andrew’s friends and family as possible to share their memories of his father with them. It is clear from the way they speak of him that Andrew was a kind, loving man, who everyone loved dearly. But as the film progresses, it gets angrier – angry at a system that allows Turner out on bail not once, but twice, angry that she is allowed to care for her child despite her obvious problems, angry at what Turner and the system do to Andrew’s parents, who seem to be just as wonderful as Andrew himself. And most of just angry that Andrew was taken away from all the people who loved him.
Kuene is not the most dazzling filmmaker in the world – they film adheres fairly strictly to the archival footage and talking heads structure of most documentaries (when he does stray, for instance by having pictures of the Judges or Turner move their lips like they’re on Conan O’Brien, he probably shouldn’t have), and yet with material this strong it doesn’t matter. The film is made with love, and with an insider’s perspective that only someone who knew Andrew this well could have possibly done. It is an emotionally gut wrenching film, that had me tearing up on more than one occasion. It is fully possible that you’ll come away feeling like you knew Andrew too, and that you’ll be just as angry as the people who need know him. The system failed him. It failed Zachary. It failed everyone.
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