Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father (Movie Review)

Dear Zachary is a documentary film about a family whose son was murdered by his ex-girlfriend. They go through the court system and the girlfriend is released on bail. We then find out that the girlfriend is pregnant with the child of the deceased son (Andrew). The baby gets born but then a year later the girlfriend who murdered the family's son commits murder suicide by jumping off a bridge into the Atlantic ocean with the baby in her arms.

The maker of this documentary however, is not a monster who wants to cash in on a horrifying and disturbing story, he is in fact the best friend of Andrew, and after the murder, he travelled all across America and the UK to talk to every single person that Andrew knew, to find out anything and everything he could about his deceased best friend. He made this documentary before the revelation came that the girlfriend committed murder-suicide and during the film you even can hear him trying to choke back the tears in some parts (he narrates the whole thing).

Also, the film provides a very good look into the absolute shambles that is the American justice system. The poor family who are the centre of this documentary explain in full detail about how the judges and lawyers treated them as if they were pretty much non-existent throughout the whole trial. It is also absolutely shocking how often the dates of the trial got changed and how the judges basically told them to 'Forget about it' and how they would 'Deal with it properly on another date'. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about how justice might be served if I were living in America and something like this happened to me.

All of these three things come together in an absolutely brilliantly made and emotionally hard hitting movie9. I'm not usually the one to cry at films, but in this movie I found myself with a lump in my throat after every single horrifying and blood boiling revelation came around. If you are incredibly happy and you know that you're not going to finish this movie and end up being depressed for the rest of the day, then definitely watch it.

Saying that, I wouldn't recommend it to everyone even though it is an incredibly well made film. This is because of the story, as it does make it incredibly difficult to watch at times, and I even considered turning off at points because there were some bits I couldn't cope with. All in all, it's an extremely important and thought provoking movie about an incredibly sad story, injustice, and getting over the death of a loved one. A must watch for those who think they can stomach it.