I haven’t cried during a film since Kung Fu Panda 2, which was in 2011 when I was 9 but after watching Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father, I was left emotionally exhausted. The documentary directed by Kurt Kuenne was one that really affected me. I believe that this was due to the interviews that were within the film. Before the film if you told me Andrew Bagby was murdered, I would think little of it. I don’t know Bagby and people die all the time. I hear about death every single day on the news, and it’s not an exaggeration. I think it is fair to say that a good amount of people are desensitized to death because of the media. When you know little of a situation, it is easy to be indifferent but often times once you gain more information your attitude changes and you form a bias.
The interviews were the most compelling part of the film and those parts of the film received a greater response from me. When I watched the interviewees as they smiled, I smiled and when they cried, I cried, as well. Other art mediums wouldn’t have been able to receive such a response from me. Watching interviews, you can see the expressions that the people are making and you can hear the tone in their voice. I could empathize with them because of those things.
I reacted most strongly to David and Kathleen. I can’t even imagine losing a son and then losing a grandson not long after. I admired how hard they tried to gain custody of Zachary. They put up with quite a bit, and I don’t think I would have had that much will power, if I’m being honest. David and Kathleen put their faith into the legal system, but all their efforts ended up being pointless, which is heartbreaking. I can only imagine all the regrets that they have and all the “what ifs”. It is extremely hard to watch others in pain, but I think one of the worse things for me is to watch people as they express their regrets. It’s not fair that such bad things happened to good people.
The film itself felt very personal, as if it was something I wasn’t meant to see. I know the documentary was originally going to be for Zachary, but Kuenne decided to release the film publicly, due to his death. While the documentary was informative, it really focused on the people and how they felt. I’ve never seen a documentary like this one. It felt a bit aggressive, and “in your face”. There was a message that Kuenne wanted to get across. I know I was supposed to see how the legal system failed the Bagby family. I was inclined to believe that something had to be done so these events don’t repeat themselves. I felt this way because of how the events impacted the friends and family of Bagby. Kuenne’s approach would make most people sympathize with the family, and so his point got across fairly well.
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