“you still have children.”

a new friend of mine recently asked me if i cried during movies.  i replied that pretty much any time michael caine cries, i cry. and i still tear up a little during bill pullman’s speech at the end of independence day.  both of these things are true. so going into dear zachary: a letter to a son about his father, a documentary i first heard about on the /filmcast, i knew i was probably going to get at least a little misty.

jesus tap-dancing christ. i was completely ripped to shreds. i cannot stress this enough, see this movie.  if you have netflix, it’s available on watch instantly.  but be prepared: you will ball like a child.  and the less you know about the case, the more powerful this film becomes.  i don’t want to give anything away, but the story goes something like this:

On November 5, 2001, Dr. Andrew Bagby was murdered in a parking lot in western Pennsylvania; the prime suspect, his ex-girlfriend Dr. Shirley Turner, promptly fled the United States for St. John’s, Canada, where she announced that she was pregnant with Andrew’s child. She named the little boy Zachary. Filmmaker Kurt Kuenne, Andrew’s oldest friend, began making a film for little Zachary as a way for him to get to know the father he’d never meet. But when Shirley Turner was released on bail in Canada and was given custody of Zachary while awaiting extradition to the U.S., the film’s focus shifted to Zachary’s grandparents, David & Kathleen Bagby, and their desperate efforts to win custody of the boy from the woman they knew had murdered their son.

this is far and away, the most emotionally devastating documentary you will ever experience.  i will say this, to mr. and mrs. bagby, on the off chance that you read this, you are stronger than anyone i could possibly meet and i commend your courage.

-srd