Dear Zachary (DVD) Review

A harrowing documentary about the murder of one of its creator’s best friends, Dear Zachary is an incredibly compelling film. Featuring interviews with dozens of friends and family members, it tells the story of Andrew Bagby’s tragic death at the hands of his unhinged girlfriend, Shirley Turner.

Kuenne began making the film as a tribute to his friend and as a way to show his son, Zachary, the man his father was. It’s also a powerful example of how an empathetic documentary can actually make a difference.

The story

Kurt Kuenne's eloquent, deeply affecting tribute to Andrew Bagby -- who was murdered by his ex-girlfriend Shirley Jane Turner in 2001, only to discover that she was pregnant with their son Zachary -- is one of the most harrowing and heartbreaking documentaries you're likely to see. The film begins with a home movie feel, as family members and friends share their memories of Bagby.

But things soon take a shocking turn. When Bagby's parents learn that Turner is pregnant with their son, they launch a campaign to secure custody of Zachary. It's a story of legal injustice and parental grief that, in the end, takes its own twisted turn.

In a movie so full of heart, it's hard not to empathize with the pain that the Bagby family and the courts experience during their desperate battle for custody. It's a tale of unforgivable neglect, but it also shows the brutality of the criminal justice system and how a woman can be freed to raise her child in spite of a myriad of psychological issues.

The movie also tackles a number of issues that are rarely addressed in films, including a lack of bail for women who are accused of murder, and a general mistreatment of mentally ill people. It is a very tough film to watch, but it's an important one.

The film's story grew from Kuenne's initial goal of creating a "cinematic scrapbook" for Zachary to the larger story of legal injustice, parenting and activism. The movie has also inspired numerous audience members to write their members of Parliament and call for bail reform. It has been screened at several major international festivals and recently swept the Audience Award at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival in Birmingham, Alabama. It has been acquired for theatrical release and DVD distribution by Oscilloscope Pictures, and will be released in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago later this month.

The characters

Dear Zachary is a documentary about the murder of Kurt Kuenne’s friend Andrew Bagby. He died when his girlfriend, Shirley Jane Turner, shot him to death and flew to Canada where she gave birth to their child Zachary.

The film is a powerful and heart-wrenching look at the aftermath of a crime that should never have happened. But it also is a story about family, and how you can love even when you know it won’t end well.

When the news of Andrew’s murder broke, David and Kate Bagby were devastated. They felt helpless, and desperate to do anything to get their grandson back. They began a campaign against the Canadian court system. They fought for Zachary’s life in court, but it didn’t stop there.

Shirley, on the other hand, kept up a facade of being a sweet and innocent person to everyone around her, despite her one-sided obsession with Andrew and her abusive behavior towards her son. She tried to play her way into the Bagbys’ hearts, mentioning Christmas gifts she had bought for Zachary with him in the picture.

She was a manipulative prankster, as evidenced by audio tapes of her trying to coerce the Bagbys into playing her role as a mother. But despite her constant efforts to make David and Kate feel like she was a part of their lives, they would not allow it.

After her trial, Shirley was released on bail, and she was allowed to keep custody of Zachary. This helped her maintain a connection to her son, and she even gave him the message “Mommy loves you” on her deathbed.

As the film progresses, the audience becomes more and more convinced that this is not the right way to handle this situation. The film demonstrates how the entire Canadian legal process was flawed and that it should have been stopped in its tracks.

This is a film that should be seen by every parent, because it’s an important reminder of how our children are vulnerable. In the end, it’s a film that makes you question everything about how you treat others and why we put ourselves at risk.

The music

Dear Zachary is a documentary that has it all: a compelling story, impressive visual effects, and an excellent musical score. The movie's score by Kurt Kuenne has received many awards, including a 2008 nomination for Best Documentary Score from the International Film Music Critics Association.

The movie begins in 2001, when a Latrobe, Pennsylvania doctor is found dead in a park. His estranged girlfriend, Shirley Turner, was soon suspected of the crime and charged with her husband's murder.

In a market flooded with true crime docs, this one stands out as an unusually well-made film. This is not a rehashing of the tragedy or a rote recounting of the events, but rather a unique look at what happens when human beings are given too much power.

This is a film that will make you gasp, laugh out loud, and then shed a few tears. It's a movie about a very dark subject, but it also tells you about the good people of the world and how they work together to solve problems.

There are a lot of things to say about this film, but the most memorable is its use of technology to tell a story that's as moving as it is disturbing. This was done via a series of augmented reality gimmicks that were cleverly designed to let the audience into the mind of both the murderer and her victim.

Besides being an impressive film, this is one of the most important films I've seen about human rights in years. I'm still trying to process the events as they unfolded, but it's a film that makes you think differently about what happens when power is too strong for the ordinary person.

The editing

Filmmaker Kurt Kuenne originally set out to make a memorial for his friend Andrew Bagby after his death, but after learning that his ex-girlfriend Shirley Jane Turner was pregnant with his child at the time of her murder, Kuenne changed his mind and began to explore a much larger story about legal injustice, parenting and activism. The result is a harrowing, gut-wrenching and emotionally-open wound of a movie that should be seen by everyone, especially those who have suffered a loss.

Dear Zachary begins with a beautifully rendered portrait of Andrew Bagby, a loving father who was taken by his decoy girlfriend Shirley Jane Turner while she was on bail in Canada. She had been divorced from Andrew and was living with her parents while she was in jail, but she claims to be pregnant.

The Canadian justice system does not act quickly to settle her case and she is eventually convicted of killing her one-year-old baby boy, Andrew’s son Zachary. The resulting media coverage stoked the flames of protest against lenient bail laws and the Bagby family, including Kate and David, mounted an aggressive campaign to reform the law in Canada.

But it wasn’t just the Bagbys who found themselves in the middle of this scandal; Kuenne and his team also had a hand in shaping the debate over Canadian bail laws and were instrumental in making a law that was passed in 2013 which encouraged courts to take into account whether a parent would harm their child before they released them. It’s no wonder that Dear Zachary has been such a roaring success at the international festival circuit and that, in the wake of this devastating loss, a small group of members of parliament are now working on drafting a bill based on what they learned from the film.

In spite of the fact that it’s a heartbreaking, empathetic and wrenching experience, I was utterly engrossed in Dear Zachary for most of its runtime. Kuenne’s fluid editing moves from interviews to archival footage, focusing on Andrew and the people who loved him.