`Friedmans' provides a chilling look at the modern American family.(Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

Byline: Christopher Kelly

The facts of the case are these: In 1987, Arnold Friedman, a well-respected teacher in Long Island, and his youngest son Jesse, then 18, were arrested and charged with molesting dozens of neighborhood boys during computer classes that Arnold Friedman taught in the Friedmans' basement. Weeks earlier, the police had raided the Friedman home on a tip that Arnold owned child pornography. They then began interviewing the local boys, until a nightmarish portrait of rampant sexual abuse emerged.

On its most basic level, as a detailed analysis of a knotty, shape-shifting legal case, "Capturing the Friedmans" is enthralling. The director, …