Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About his Father **

Directed and written by Kurt Kuenne.
Released 2008?
Seen on DVD.

This movie starts off as a letter to the son of a man (Dr. Andrew Bagby) who was murdered, allegedly, by his crazy ex-girlfriend (Dr. Shirley Turner). The director of the film is a close and personal friend of the victim, so he wanted something to give to his friend's son, so that the boy could know who his father was. He drives cross country, interviewing and filming everyone who was friends or knew Bagby. Until he gets to New Foundland, Canada, the eastern most point of the North American continent. That's where the ex-girlfriend, also the mother of the Bagby's son has fled to. The grandparents (David and Kathleen Bagby) of the Andrew's son (Zachary Andrew Turner) go to New Foundland to facilitate the extradition of her to the states so that she can stand trial for the murder of their son. Though the evidence is convincing, the court releases her on bail several times and allows her to live freely while the legal process continues. This means, that the grandparents, who want to be with the grandchild, have to communicate and play nice to the woman who probably murdered their son. And this stretches out seemingly forever.

I'm going to leave the rest unstated as to not give away the spoiler, but the ending of the movie is pretty astonishing. This is why everyone should watch the film. It is an incredible story! Though I only give the film 2 stars. That's because as a movie, I think it's pretty flawed.

First is the fact of the lack of objectivity. Now of course this film was not intended to be a feature release for the theaters. It was supposed to be a love letter or a valentine to the victim's son - a memorial. So it makes sense that it's not an objective film. Still, I didn't care for the part when Dr. Turner or her lawyer was speaking. It was almost juvenile. They showed a still image of that person and then did a "Clutch Cargo" thing where the mouth moves while the rest of the image doesn't. And the narrator (the director?) would use a mocking voice as the still photos spoke those words. And then it was repeated several times.

And that's my other complaint with the film. There is so much repetition. The same things are repeated over and over as well as some of the scenes. I guess the film maker was trying to emphasis a point in the way directors emphasize points with jump cuts. Jump cuts are repetitions of the same action 2 or three times in a row. The reason is for emphasis. But this is different I believe. Keuune use this technique way too frequently. And the repetitions are not usually all in one place. The repetitions happen through out the whole film.

And then there's the politics. After the events that take place unfold, the grandparents decide that they want to be activists. Specifically they want to see the release on bail laws change so that it is not so easy for a possibly dangerous person to be walking on the street. At face value, this seems reasonable. But I worry, that a reformed law could lead to less civil rights for the prosecuted. What if that person was innocent. Remember, during the setting of bail, they have not proven that the person is guilty of the charge. Still, it's clear that Dr. Turner was allowed out too easily. I suspect that the laws are good enough as they are, but perhaps enforcement and interpretation of the laws are where the problems stem from. Add to the fact that this all takes place in Canada, I'm not really sure how the laws are the same or different than here in the states. Is the Bagby couple working on changing Canadian Law or U.S. law? That's not clear to me or I don't remember them mentioning it. And they even plug the grandfather's book.




And an interview with the director. Sorry about the repeating clips from the trailer.