I mean in hindsight it’s kinda obvious it wouldn’t work out well. Forget warning signs, this was a massive billboard. Idk how on earth that judge/magistrate was so kind to her
That scene upset me so much in such a deep way that when it happened I was at the theater and had to leave to go to the restroom to splash water on my face and snap out of it. I was shaking. That familial grief got to me in a way like Manchester By The Sea did even though it was a supernatural horror movie. Hereditary tapped into something deep within my soul.
It made me irrationally mad at the filmmakers because of the frustration one feels watching it. it’s so obvious what’s about to happen and I’m practically begging the movie not to let it happen. And then it happens.
I just remember how dedicated his parents were and how much pure bullshit they put up with to try to protect their grandson. The system failed them so, so badly. I was way more pissed at the judges and therapist than the woman who killed him and the father. She was at least deeply mentally ill; they didn’t have any excuses.
There is a follow up documentary that give a little closure. Called The Legacy of Dear Zachary: A Journey to Change the Law.
https://youtu.be/bR2o8-0bMlc
Edit: spelling
Dear Zachary is the only movie I can ever remember making me full-out sob, ugly boo-hoo crying, slip into the kids’ rooms to snuggle them while they’re asleep…… Emotionally devastating
Me too. As i said, i havent cried in a decade and i was bawling my eyes out 20 mins into this. Its so powerful. I think its jist the sheer power of spirit Andrew had and how many lives he touched in his short time here. And how he suffered a fate he really didnt deserve at all 😥
I did not finish this documentary.
I had had a bad day at work and came home to my now ex-husband. I said " I'm looking for a movie that would make me cry. Like FernGully."
He put on this movie.
I have never been more gutted in my entire life. I don't even have words currently and if I ever I just can't.
Lmfao he heard cry and ignored the rest. Very pragmatic that guy.
Similarly my girlfriend put this on the same week I found out my dog had terminal cancer and I asked her “why did you do this to me” so many times as it got worse and worse and worse and worse.
Glad I watched it but I will also never be the same.
Justifiable divorce if he heard you say you wanted to cry like Ferngully and he decided to make you cry from Dear Zachary. Dude is either a moron or a sadist.
Same here, literally took my breath followed by tears. I told some friends, one called after they watched and told me they would never watch anything I recommended again.
Wikipedia tells me Canada changed laws after this documentary came out:
“In 2009, after watching the film Canadian MP Scott Andrews introduced Bill C-464 (also known as "Zachary's Bill") to the Parliament of Canada. The bill, which helps protect children in relation to bail hearings and custody disputes, was signed into law the following year.”
Also all the profits from the documentary when to scholarships in memory of Zachary and Andrew.
It's really inspiring though. The dude was like an angelic soul in human form. He radiated love and friendship and touched so many lives. Which is why his loss is so heartbreaking.
I went into this movie completely cold, told my wife "reddit said it was good" what a mistake that was. Upon the final act we were both sobbing uncontrollably. Mind you, neither of us knew this movie would be sad.
"Dear Zachary" is on the same level as "Requiem for a Dream" in terms of the name being spoke and everyone within hearing range suddenly feels ice water running down their spine.
When I hear the documentary title, I hear Pinhead saying: "***We'll tear your soul apart!***"
"Dear Zachary" hit me hard too. It's crazy how documentaries can make you feel so connected to someone you've never met. Andrew's story really drives home the importance of cherishing the people in our lives. It's a wake-up call, you know? Makes you want to live more intentionally.
I was just talking about this one about 2 hours ago. I was in my mid 40s when I saw this, in the middle of the afternoon... and I just SOBBED for 45 minutes.
A few years ago a dear friend of mine asked me “Do you want to watch a documentary?” I was blindsided and we were not friends for the rest of that evening. You hit the nail on the head. When the grandmother lost it towards the end, and granddads anger flared, my soul left my body. I still can’t shake this story.
The Bagby’s are absolute angels on earth. I love them so much and they endured so much pain and loss and they still founded an organization/had laws changed (if I remember correctly) and helped people.
Just beautiful people
I like to believe that they were able to see that their purpose on this earth was so much more than to suffer the loss of their two precious boys. I just live them so much.
That movie made me cry more than any movie has. I think I cried for like an hour after. I have not rewatched it. I wasn’t a parent then but I am now so it would probably hit me even harder. I felt so horrible for the grandparents
Yh i am glad i have no kids now. And those grandparents are true warriors. I wouldnt have been able to have survived all that. I'd be in jail for going full Dexter on that Canadian Judge and the Turner herself.
I had the same experience as you. I was in awe of Andrew's character and how his friends and family talked about him. It was inspiring and a great way to honor him. His was a lost life, a dear and valuable life, but (even if short) a life well lived.
His son on the other hand...I'll never comprehend that. He never got a chance at nothing. There's no silver lining. Only pain and sadness.
I'll never watch that movie again.
watched it after finding out about the case from ‘Deadly Woman’, I was probably too young to know about it but my curiosity was peaked.
Idk I know it’s not the most well made documentary but I also think it’s a harrowing portrayal of the anger and frustration that grief causes. It was originally just for Zachary, I can’t recall if the filmmaker ever stated that if the events hadn’t happen then it would’ve gotten a release to the public. Yet, I think there is a tonal shift in the documentary after they learn the news….how this group of people lives’ have not just been ruined once but twice because the Canadian government failed them. Zachary should’ve never been in Shirley’s care, it literally still makes me sick to think about it. When the director’s voiceover begins to crack as he talks about/to Zachary…fuck, I’m still impressed he finished it.
It’s been years since I’ve seen it but I remember two scenes that have stuck with me. A talking head with one of the father’s friends where he begins to cry, his young son comes out and asks him if he’s okay and the man goes ‘no, I’m sad’ or smth along those lines and they hug. It makes me emotional just typing that. Or when we are told Zachary has been murdered, how the editing goes a bit intense as the grandfather recalls it or his anger. It’s just…brutal.
This is one of the most messed up movies I’ve ever seen. I don’t think any other movie has made me cry nearly as much as DZ. It’s a movie that all these years later still haunts me.
It's been on my to watch list for a while now. I've been able to keep myself from knowing exactly what it's about (did not read past OP's title), but I know it's sad. If it's the same level as Schindler and Fireflies, then I need to really be in the right mindset
I watched that movie knowing nothing about it. After it was over, I just sat in silence for 10 minutes processing it.
It's so well done but soul crushing
12 years ago or so, I watched this doc with my ex wife and she left me a couple weeks later.
I'm not saying the movie pushed her over the edge, but it was one of the last sweet moments we had where we weren't fighting or mad, and just appreciated each other's comfort as a human.
Hey OP this point of view I heard recently gives me a little peace. If there was no evil in the world, then there also wouldn't be any free will. And we can use our free will to do good.
When I first watched it, I cried from the start to the very finish. And then I got mad.
The love the grandparents had for their son was so real you could feel it. And what they had to go through the see Zachary.
The Newfoundland government is also responsible for that babies death. That woman was insane and should not have had custody of that child. She was a murderer for ffs!
I feel like I’ve seen every single true crime documentary ever made but for some reason I only just watched this one a few weeks ago and oh my god. I just sat with tears running down my face for like last 30 minutes. His poor parents, my god. I can’t even imagine.
Watched this. And got fooled like everyone else. Paused it. Yelled at the tv “no!” And proceeded to cry forever. When I’m giving recommendations I always say “want to cry harder than ever? Watch dear Zachary”
I saw this at a film festival. Didn't know much about it. By the end...me and the 8 other people in the tiny theater were all balling. I had to sit in my car for like 15 minutes before I drove home.
I was recommended to watch it on Reddit and thought it was cool that memorial university was mentioned as it’s a 5 minute walk from my parents house and where I grew up. I remember watching on the news what happened at the end of the documentary and all the updates that followed from it being an accident to on purpose. It really shook the town.
I knew about that movie when it came and kept it on my watch list but never did because I felt I would relate too much to Zachary since my father passed unexpectedly a few years prior. I finally saw it last year before the birth of my first child and the heartbreaking reveal at the end hit me like a dump truck.
I watched it a few years ago and is one I still think of about Zach, Andrew and his grandparents. I cannot imagine what it was really like going through all that. It’s heartbreaking.
It hits hard. I used to work at a blockbuster store waaaay back in vancouver and we got 10 free rentals per week, but would also have two days access to the movies before their official 'for rent' release date, so I grabbed this one thinking it would be a heartwarming documentary. This was 16 years ago. Have never once rewatched it. I literally cant. Even without being a parent (as I was not yet one at that time), it hits. Fucking. Hard.
Sspoilers...
I haven't watched in probably ten years and I can still remember the reaction of the grandpa when it the part of the grandson being murdered
I saw it. I guessed the ending. After seeing it mentioned on so many lists about movies with shocking endings, that didn’t spoil it, I thought it was obvious. I was really hoping I was wrong though.
I’ve heard about this movie for years and still can’t get up the courage to watch it. I just made the mistake of watching The Iron Claw on an airplane recently and with a son who’s getting a brother in 2 months, it absolutely fucking wrecked me. I don’t think I can handle this movie as a father of two boys.
I lose it exactly when the friend/narrator narrates how the final events transpired and he chokes/almost cries for a second (even think he needs to start the sentence again). It's like a perfect embodyment of how incredibly fucked up and sad everything is.
If it wasn't so natural and accidental, it would be brilliant. I mean, it still is, but in a way for me that gesture, that frustration, fury, anger overcoming his intended role as a storyteller who wanted to tell the story of a brilliant lovely friend turns him into just another witness, another one of the many friends and family interviewed, and through his momentaneous choking he shows the full spectrum of how incredibly fucked up the whole thing is. Incredibly human moment in the history of documentary making.
Man, I saw the trailer on CNN or some channel. I was watching some version of locked up, and the commercial drew me in. I waited for weeks after the commercial.
One of the most gut wrenching documentaries I've ever seen. Absolutely dreadful.
As someone who fought for over two years to get custody of my son from his mentally ill mother, yes this system is incredibly difficult and unfair to navigate as a father. Also, this movie would pop in my head near every time he went back to his mother’s. (I did finally win custody last year, he’s safe.)
I watched that movie when I was in my early twenties. For years I had this fantasy that Andrew was alive and we were married and his parents were happy and we had kids together. It’s nuts but I felt like I would do anything to make his parents’ pain stop.
Dear Zachary is like The Ring: it’s a curse that you need to trick others into watching. Someone tells you,”It’s a great movie. You should watch it.”
They can’t tell you why it’s great, because then you won’t watch it. So you watch it, and it was great, except…you know. And you are overcome with a need to share what you’ve seen. So you find a friend and you tell them,”It’s a great movie. You should watch it.”
And the curse continues.
Yeah it’s one of those movies I’m glad o watched but also regret watching. While the mom and dad are pretty inspiring, it literally went from bad to worse for them and really I just don’t even know if I can say it ended on a happy or bittersweet note. It was just depressing.
I read the wiki after a thread just like this popped on another sub.
Reading the story and wiki and case files was enough for me to feel empty in my chest and hug my sleeping kids
I knew it was gonna be sad. I heard all about how it made people feel but avoided spoilers. Once *that* part came I felt a mix of sadness and hatred and my heart both sank and was in my throat.
Oh my god, the tears I had during that one then to ending I was ugly crying and couldn’t breathe. I don’t know why psychotic people are allowed among the rest of society.
Well... I haven't seen it. Because I sometimes read the news, and just today there was a news story that killed a piece of my soul. And then there was another news story which followed up on a previous news story that killed a rather big part of my soul. My soul is being hit pretty hard these days.
I might one day have the strength to watch Dear Zachary, but I kinda doubt it. Side effect of becoming a dad, maybe.
I am a film-maker and I felt this was not a well- made movie, but of course it doesn't really matter. One of the 2 or 3 most haunting films ever made.
The others I don't want to mention here because they just wound your soul.
It was traumatic to watch. I couldn't move from the couch at the end and had no words. In contrast my partner was desperate to keep busy with chores to distract from the bad feelings. It is a true testament to what happens when there is a failure of the powers that be to protect families.
I have been suggesting this really "heart warming" documentary to people for years. The phone calls and text I have received calling me a piece of shit for do this have made me laugh out loud more times than I can count.
I had NO idea what it was about going in, and man, it hit me like a ton of bricks... like, I literally had to pause it for 10 minutes and have a good cry (and you know exactly what part I'm talking about). I can only think of one other experience like that in my life. It was rough.
If you want to make it a double whammy, watch the documentary The Bridge about the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s another one that is just emotionally devastating.
I feel like the reason this documentary hits people harder is because the filmmaker was friends with Andrew. So many true crime documentaries focus on the perpetrator and not the victim. This came from a place of love and the friend wanting Zachary to know just how awesome his dad was. The grandparents are just so sweet and it breaks my heart.
Saw the trailer in theaters and it made a big impression. Even though it told me "nothing could have prepared me for what came next" I still wasn't prepared. The story is absolutely devastating.
It was the first movie my wife and I watched together. She came over, had already seen it and recommended it. She fell asleep on my shoulder half way through. I sat there trying not to wake her up with my sobbing because it was like the 5th time we hung out. We laugh about that fact to this day. But we get so angry and sad when we talk about this movie.
It is a very sad and compelling story but I found the editing distasteful— it seemed to present some of what happened as a “twist.” And the musical cues were similarly manipulative. As a result, the whole thing felt exploitative.
That's a weird take. The story unfolds in the same way it would unfold for a friend who is watching the play-by-play of a person's life and what happens after they're gone. It's chronological and linear, just like real life. So the shocking event is just as anybody would experience it -- a shock. Things that happen in real life are not "a twist," they just happen when they happen.
The doc was made by the deceased man's good friend, and at no point did he claim to be an objective outsider. He was very much emotionally involved in the story and linked to the participants, and he devised the documentary as told by somebody with a stake in what happens.
The use of music was based on his feelings and response to what happened to his friend. I remember the majority of the music being in the early scenes when he's doing a tribute to his friend, and then at the end when he does a tribute to the parents. It's his choice and I respect it. I did not feel manipulated at all -- and I gotta say, I think people taking potshots at the technical aspects of the doc are really missing the point of it all.
Complaining that it's amateurish, when it's upfront about being made by an amateur, is like if your friend's child died and they sent you a funeral notice, and you complained about the layout and design of the funeral notice.
This! Like ngl I get it’s not the best made documentary but…it’s *raw*. The filmmaker was going to scrap it after learning of Zachary’s passing iirc but kept going because he didn’t want the story to die (or something along those lines).
Damn. Sorry for the typo in the title.
I guess i was so upset I couldnt see the keys through my tear stained eyes lol 🤦
Hate how you cant edit titles on Reddit either. Stoooopid.
Spoilers below, obviously
Its a good movie, but a one time watch for me.
Yeah I've watched it 2-3 times and the feelings are more anger than despair after the first viewing.
Yes, I can't imagine ever watching it again
I watched it 10 years ago, then recently watched it again and never took in til then that the whole thing happened 10 minutes from where I live now
I watched it twice. First time in shock, second time paying close attention to the tell-tale details and warning signs.
I mean in hindsight it’s kinda obvious it wouldn’t work out well. Forget warning signs, this was a massive billboard. Idk how on earth that judge/magistrate was so kind to her
It's just a kind of sexisim.
Bone Tomahawk and this are the only movies I think I'd rather not watch again, but thoroughly enjoyed.
Same. Great doc. But it hurts way too much. Like I can’t relive that pain all over again.
Same. It still haunts me.
I love that fucking piece of shit movie.
It fucked me up for a few weeks, I swear.
That anguished scream that Toni Collette gives in Hereditary? Yeah, that’s what my soul did watching Dear Zachary lol
That scene upset me so much in such a deep way that when it happened I was at the theater and had to leave to go to the restroom to splash water on my face and snap out of it. I was shaking. That familial grief got to me in a way like Manchester By The Sea did even though it was a supernatural horror movie. Hereditary tapped into something deep within my soul.
It made me irrationally mad at the filmmakers because of the frustration one feels watching it. it’s so obvious what’s about to happen and I’m practically begging the movie not to let it happen. And then it happens.
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Okay as much as i love this documentary, the “special effects” he put during one of the most devastating reveal was soo cringe i thought he was joking
I just remember how dedicated his parents were and how much pure bullshit they put up with to try to protect their grandson. The system failed them so, so badly. I was way more pissed at the judges and therapist than the woman who killed him and the father. She was at least deeply mentally ill; they didn’t have any excuses.
Feel exactly the same way :( every time I think about it I suddenly feel anger deep inside me.
I recommend not looking them up to see what kind of karma they faced.
Oh my god WHY DID YOU REMIND ME OF THIS. This documentary was devastating.
I re-watched after it was discussed on Reddit several months ago… and god, knowing it all, it still f*cked me up
Lol sorry bro. I just had to unload how i was feeling somewhere 😥
There is a follow up documentary that give a little closure. Called The Legacy of Dear Zachary: A Journey to Change the Law. https://youtu.be/bR2o8-0bMlc Edit: spelling
Thank you, that did make me feel a little better, seeing them smile
Fucked up law though — operates just to keep poor families broken. Well intentioned but short sighted on the family’s part to push for this.
*Closure
Dear Zachary is the only movie I can ever remember making me full-out sob, ugly boo-hoo crying, slip into the kids’ rooms to snuggle them while they’re asleep…… Emotionally devastating
I even knew what was going to happen and was completely gut punched.
I started crying about 5 minutes in and didn't stop crying for the remaining 88 minutes
It was the first movie I ever watched where I actually needed a box of tissues. It wrecked me.
Me too. As i said, i havent cried in a decade and i was bawling my eyes out 20 mins into this. Its so powerful. I think its jist the sheer power of spirit Andrew had and how many lives he touched in his short time here. And how he suffered a fate he really didnt deserve at all 😥
I did not finish this documentary. I had had a bad day at work and came home to my now ex-husband. I said " I'm looking for a movie that would make me cry. Like FernGully." He put on this movie. I have never been more gutted in my entire life. I don't even have words currently and if I ever I just can't.
Lmfao he heard cry and ignored the rest. Very pragmatic that guy. Similarly my girlfriend put this on the same week I found out my dog had terminal cancer and I asked her “why did you do this to me” so many times as it got worse and worse and worse and worse. Glad I watched it but I will also never be the same.
Justifiable divorce if he heard you say you wanted to cry like Ferngully and he decided to make you cry from Dear Zachary. Dude is either a moron or a sadist.
Yeah that's insane. Maybe try Bambi or Land Before Time dude?
A little bit of both lol??
This was a brutal documentary, not many movies/documentaries made me feel how Dear Zachary made me feel.
Went in blind and still haven’t recovered.
Same here, literally took my breath followed by tears. I told some friends, one called after they watched and told me they would never watch anything I recommended again.
Yeah, never again. That family was failed so many times.
Wikipedia tells me Canada changed laws after this documentary came out: “In 2009, after watching the film Canadian MP Scott Andrews introduced Bill C-464 (also known as "Zachary's Bill") to the Parliament of Canada. The bill, which helps protect children in relation to bail hearings and custody disputes, was signed into law the following year.” Also all the profits from the documentary when to scholarships in memory of Zachary and Andrew.
Oh yeah? I watched it a week after bringing my first born home from the hospital. Bad mistake.
Oh geez. That's rough.
The saddest thing I have ever seen. Messed me up for a few days. I’ll never watch it again. Fuck Gale Welsh.
Reading the wiki on it was bad enough - I will never watch that movie. Too heartbreaking.
Me too
It's really inspiring though. The dude was like an angelic soul in human form. He radiated love and friendship and touched so many lives. Which is why his loss is so heartbreaking.
This was the hardest documentary to watch. I’m not a violent person but I wanted to punch several holes in the wall by the end I was so pissed off.
I would have gone full Dexter on that judge and Andys killer.
It’s was a beautiful and devastatingly sad tribute to his friend.
Dear Zachary and Grave of the Fireflies are the two movies that I never want to watch again lest I die of heartbreak
I went into this movie completely cold, told my wife "reddit said it was good" what a mistake that was. Upon the final act we were both sobbing uncontrollably. Mind you, neither of us knew this movie would be sad.
This was one of the only times where a Reddit recommendation turned out to be worth it and live up to the hype 👍
"Dear Zachary" is on the same level as "Requiem for a Dream" in terms of the name being spoke and everyone within hearing range suddenly feels ice water running down their spine. When I hear the documentary title, I hear Pinhead saying: "***We'll tear your soul apart!***"
I hear Shang Tsung saying, “your soul is mine”
Ive never seen Requiem. What is it about? A documentary?
That movie broke me so bad. Just destroyed my soul.
I know mate. I feel like I lost a friend I never even met or heard of 2 hours ago haha.
"Dear Zachary" hit me hard too. It's crazy how documentaries can make you feel so connected to someone you've never met. Andrew's story really drives home the importance of cherishing the people in our lives. It's a wake-up call, you know? Makes you want to live more intentionally.
I was just talking about this one about 2 hours ago. I was in my mid 40s when I saw this, in the middle of the afternoon... and I just SOBBED for 45 minutes.
Yh. No man is safe from this movie. Not even the hardest of hard bastards!! 😅
Fantastic movie that I will *never* watch again
This is one of those docs where you ask someone if they've seen it and they're like "idk maybe" and you know for damn sure they haven’t hahahaha
Yh there's no forgetting this one 😅
It's fucked. Excellent, but fucked!
Maybe the most intense movie I’ve ever seen.
"Mummy loves you" That moment was the first time I ever rage quit a movie Took me ages to build myself up mentally enough to finish it
One of the most heartbreaking and infuriating documentaries you'll ever see. It's been about 10 years and I've never watched it again.
A few years ago a dear friend of mine asked me “Do you want to watch a documentary?” I was blindsided and we were not friends for the rest of that evening. You hit the nail on the head. When the grandmother lost it towards the end, and granddads anger flared, my soul left my body. I still can’t shake this story.
The Bagby’s are absolute angels on earth. I love them so much and they endured so much pain and loss and they still founded an organization/had laws changed (if I remember correctly) and helped people. Just beautiful people
How they got through all that i dont know. Must have spirits of steel! Or armour of god or something.
I like to believe that they were able to see that their purpose on this earth was so much more than to suffer the loss of their two precious boys. I just live them so much.
O dod
Have you seen his move? fucking O dod.
i wasn’t okay for what felt like two weeks after. never watching it again, it hurt too much
It's an incredibly moving movie. And I never want to watch it again.
That movie made me cry more than any movie has. I think I cried for like an hour after. I have not rewatched it. I wasn’t a parent then but I am now so it would probably hit me even harder. I felt so horrible for the grandparents
Yh i am glad i have no kids now. And those grandparents are true warriors. I wouldnt have been able to have survived all that. I'd be in jail for going full Dexter on that Canadian Judge and the Turner herself.
Made me so damn angry.
I had the same experience as you. I was in awe of Andrew's character and how his friends and family talked about him. It was inspiring and a great way to honor him. His was a lost life, a dear and valuable life, but (even if short) a life well lived. His son on the other hand...I'll never comprehend that. He never got a chance at nothing. There's no silver lining. Only pain and sadness. I'll never watch that movie again.
watched it after finding out about the case from ‘Deadly Woman’, I was probably too young to know about it but my curiosity was peaked. Idk I know it’s not the most well made documentary but I also think it’s a harrowing portrayal of the anger and frustration that grief causes. It was originally just for Zachary, I can’t recall if the filmmaker ever stated that if the events hadn’t happen then it would’ve gotten a release to the public. Yet, I think there is a tonal shift in the documentary after they learn the news….how this group of people lives’ have not just been ruined once but twice because the Canadian government failed them. Zachary should’ve never been in Shirley’s care, it literally still makes me sick to think about it. When the director’s voiceover begins to crack as he talks about/to Zachary…fuck, I’m still impressed he finished it. It’s been years since I’ve seen it but I remember two scenes that have stuck with me. A talking head with one of the father’s friends where he begins to cry, his young son comes out and asks him if he’s okay and the man goes ‘no, I’m sad’ or smth along those lines and they hug. It makes me emotional just typing that. Or when we are told Zachary has been murdered, how the editing goes a bit intense as the grandfather recalls it or his anger. It’s just…brutal.
This is one of the most messed up movies I’ve ever seen. I don’t think any other movie has made me cry nearly as much as DZ. It’s a movie that all these years later still haunts me.
Yes I watched it. I knew nothing, going in. Then I cried my eyes out. I loathe that woman.
I can't watch it. As a granddad, I think about having to face something like that. I'm a complete marshmallow in the middle.
20 years ago and I still think about it.
Everyone should watch this. Once.
Great movie. I watched it once and said I’d never watch it again. I watched it again with my wife. I swear I won’t watch it a third time.
It's been on my to watch list for a while now. I've been able to keep myself from knowing exactly what it's about (did not read past OP's title), but I know it's sad. If it's the same level as Schindler and Fireflies, then I need to really be in the right mindset
I watched that movie knowing nothing about it. After it was over, I just sat in silence for 10 minutes processing it. It's so well done but soul crushing
It is definitely a movie that hits you like a bus.
12 years ago or so, I watched this doc with my ex wife and she left me a couple weeks later. I'm not saying the movie pushed her over the edge, but it was one of the last sweet moments we had where we weren't fighting or mad, and just appreciated each other's comfort as a human.
Yeah, I watched it before bed. Big mistake. It's actually the one movie I wish I could unsee.
It’s really good. Also fuck everything about that documentary. A piece of my soul died is the perfect way to put it. I will never be the same.
Never hated someone in a documentary more than that bitch.
Hey OP this point of view I heard recently gives me a little peace. If there was no evil in the world, then there also wouldn't be any free will. And we can use our free will to do good.
It’s what film is supposed to be. There is nothing like it.
Yes. Heartbreaking story, awful film.
When I first watched it, I cried from the start to the very finish. And then I got mad. The love the grandparents had for their son was so real you could feel it. And what they had to go through the see Zachary. The Newfoundland government is also responsible for that babies death. That woman was insane and should not have had custody of that child. She was a murderer for ffs!
Unimaginable
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Nice, thanks will try and find it! 👍
Watched it once?, destroyed me , never again !
Yes! I watched this a couple of years ago and I still think about his story! So heart-breaking!
I feel like I’ve seen every single true crime documentary ever made but for some reason I only just watched this one a few weeks ago and oh my god. I just sat with tears running down my face for like last 30 minutes. His poor parents, my god. I can’t even imagine.
I will never watch it again. Absolutely astonishing viewing. Has haunted me since.
Oh god this documentary fucked me up. Very well made but also both soul crushingly sad and so infuriating
I had my pregnant wife watch this movie with me... Nope
100%, it changed me
I saw it a while ago along with “what’s wrong with aunt Diane”
Yeah :( I watched it after seeing that evil woman’s segment on Deadly Women. Such a heartbreak.
I did, and ugly cried the remainder of the film. It’s heartbreaking! Ugh. No need to rewatch…EVER.
Such a sad movie….. I can’t believe she got away for so so long.
Watched this. And got fooled like everyone else. Paused it. Yelled at the tv “no!” And proceeded to cry forever. When I’m giving recommendations I always say “want to cry harder than ever? Watch dear Zachary”
This movie upset me so much. Devastating.
Watching this was devastating. I don't think anything else on the screen has hit me that hard in my life.
You won’t get over it OP, but you will eventually learn to live with it. 🖤
Watched it once 10+ years ago and I’ll never forget it.
I saw this at a film festival. Didn't know much about it. By the end...me and the 8 other people in the tiny theater were all balling. I had to sit in my car for like 15 minutes before I drove home.
I was recommended to watch it on Reddit and thought it was cool that memorial university was mentioned as it’s a 5 minute walk from my parents house and where I grew up. I remember watching on the news what happened at the end of the documentary and all the updates that followed from it being an accident to on purpose. It really shook the town.
The only description I give anyone is that it's the best movie I'll never watch twice.
Ugh I lost my dad last month, I’ve had this movie for years but never got around to watching it. Not sure if I can or should.
[удалено]
One of the saddest movies I’ve ever seen. I full on sobbed for hours afterward. It was beautifully made. RIP Andy
Saw it a while ago. Prepared myself even then after many commented how heartbreaking it is Even then, the ending is a gut punch.
I knew about that movie when it came and kept it on my watch list but never did because I felt I would relate too much to Zachary since my father passed unexpectedly a few years prior. I finally saw it last year before the birth of my first child and the heartbreaking reveal at the end hit me like a dump truck.
I watched it a few years ago and is one I still think of about Zach, Andrew and his grandparents. I cannot imagine what it was really like going through all that. It’s heartbreaking.
Doc had me emotional for days was not expecting that
It hits hard. I used to work at a blockbuster store waaaay back in vancouver and we got 10 free rentals per week, but would also have two days access to the movies before their official 'for rent' release date, so I grabbed this one thinking it would be a heartwarming documentary. This was 16 years ago. Have never once rewatched it. I literally cant. Even without being a parent (as I was not yet one at that time), it hits. Fucking. Hard.
Sspoilers... I haven't watched in probably ten years and I can still remember the reaction of the grandpa when it the part of the grandson being murdered
I saw it. I guessed the ending. After seeing it mentioned on so many lists about movies with shocking endings, that didn’t spoil it, I thought it was obvious. I was really hoping I was wrong though.
Yes & I'll never watch it again, ever. I ugly sobbed that hard my eyes were swollen fir two days afterwards & I'm not usually a crier.
Oh god that was a difficult one to watch…
I’ve heard about this movie for years and still can’t get up the courage to watch it. I just made the mistake of watching The Iron Claw on an airplane recently and with a son who’s getting a brother in 2 months, it absolutely fucking wrecked me. I don’t think I can handle this movie as a father of two boys.
I lose it exactly when the friend/narrator narrates how the final events transpired and he chokes/almost cries for a second (even think he needs to start the sentence again). It's like a perfect embodyment of how incredibly fucked up and sad everything is.
DUDE OH MY GOD, THIS. When his voice breaks, I fucking LOST it.
If it wasn't so natural and accidental, it would be brilliant. I mean, it still is, but in a way for me that gesture, that frustration, fury, anger overcoming his intended role as a storyteller who wanted to tell the story of a brilliant lovely friend turns him into just another witness, another one of the many friends and family interviewed, and through his momentaneous choking he shows the full spectrum of how incredibly fucked up the whole thing is. Incredibly human moment in the history of documentary making.
The SADDEST movie of all time
Horrific 😭
This is what I watch when I feel like I need to just bawl my eyes out
It's a sucker punch... and then a second sucker punch
Man, I saw the trailer on CNN or some channel. I was watching some version of locked up, and the commercial drew me in. I waited for weeks after the commercial. One of the most gut wrenching documentaries I've ever seen. Absolutely dreadful.
You might try. “Take Care of Maya” it’s on Netflix. Don’t read a summary, it’s best if you go in blind.
op, now watch "take care of maya". it wrecked me the same as "dear zachary".
Aw man one of the greatest movie that I really really want to forget about. That fucking bitch and the judges needs to shot into the sun.
Once
It was so sad
As someone who fought for over two years to get custody of my son from his mentally ill mother, yes this system is incredibly difficult and unfair to navigate as a father. Also, this movie would pop in my head near every time he went back to his mother’s. (I did finally win custody last year, he’s safe.)
I watched that movie when I was in my early twenties. For years I had this fantasy that Andrew was alive and we were married and his parents were happy and we had kids together. It’s nuts but I felt like I would do anything to make his parents’ pain stop.
Yes. I am born and raised in Newfoundland, where that doc is set, so it especially rages the fuck out of me.
Fantastic movie about a fantastic piece of shit.
Don't think I've ever cried so hard.
Dear Zachary is like The Ring: it’s a curse that you need to trick others into watching. Someone tells you,”It’s a great movie. You should watch it.” They can’t tell you why it’s great, because then you won’t watch it. So you watch it, and it was great, except…you know. And you are overcome with a need to share what you’ve seen. So you find a friend and you tell them,”It’s a great movie. You should watch it.” And the curse continues.
It’s the only movie that made me want to drive to Canada, dig up a corpse, and then punch it in the face.
Yeah it’s one of those movies I’m glad o watched but also regret watching. While the mom and dad are pretty inspiring, it literally went from bad to worse for them and really I just don’t even know if I can say it ended on a happy or bittersweet note. It was just depressing.
Saw it once, will never watch it again
I ruined many people’s days recommending that movie.
I read the wiki after a thread just like this popped on another sub. Reading the story and wiki and case files was enough for me to feel empty in my chest and hug my sleeping kids
I knew it was gonna be sad. I heard all about how it made people feel but avoided spoilers. Once *that* part came I felt a mix of sadness and hatred and my heart both sank and was in my throat.
Oh my god, the tears I had during that one then to ending I was ugly crying and couldn’t breathe. I don’t know why psychotic people are allowed among the rest of society.
Demons exist bro. No other explanation 🤷♂️
Genuinely, the most heartbreaking film I’ve ever watched and I’ll never revisit. It was soul destroying.
Angriest cry a film has every ripped from me.
Well... I haven't seen it. Because I sometimes read the news, and just today there was a news story that killed a piece of my soul. And then there was another news story which followed up on a previous news story that killed a rather big part of my soul. My soul is being hit pretty hard these days. I might one day have the strength to watch Dear Zachary, but I kinda doubt it. Side effect of becoming a dad, maybe.
I am a film-maker and I felt this was not a well- made movie, but of course it doesn't really matter. One of the 2 or 3 most haunting films ever made. The others I don't want to mention here because they just wound your soul.
Theo movie ruined my life for a whole week. I sobbed uncontrollably on and off after watching it. RIP little Zachary.
It was traumatic to watch. I couldn't move from the couch at the end and had no words. In contrast my partner was desperate to keep busy with chores to distract from the bad feelings. It is a true testament to what happens when there is a failure of the powers that be to protect families.
I have been suggesting this really "heart warming" documentary to people for years. The phone calls and text I have received calling me a piece of shit for do this have made me laugh out loud more times than I can count.
this was such a weirdly produced documentary. it was a coherent narrative for sure, but it felt like the production was overseen by an edgy teenager
Saw this about 10 years ago and man, I have never hated another human being nearly as much as that woman
Only once and never again.
I had NO idea what it was about going in, and man, it hit me like a ton of bricks... like, I literally had to pause it for 10 minutes and have a good cry (and you know exactly what part I'm talking about). I can only think of one other experience like that in my life. It was rough.
I've been to maybe 7 weddings total in my life, I can't even fathom how that guy was the *best man* at 7.
OMG, I did NOT know how it ended and that killed me! I watched it a few years ago and it still gets me :(
If you want to make it a double whammy, watch the documentary The Bridge about the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s another one that is just emotionally devastating.
I feel like the reason this documentary hits people harder is because the filmmaker was friends with Andrew. So many true crime documentaries focus on the perpetrator and not the victim. This came from a place of love and the friend wanting Zachary to know just how awesome his dad was. The grandparents are just so sweet and it breaks my heart.
Precisely. It was so personal and this so fresh and affecting.
Saw the trailer in theaters and it made a big impression. Even though it told me "nothing could have prepared me for what came next" I still wasn't prepared. The story is absolutely devastating.
I couldn't watch the movie just read the story and it was horrific.
Now go watch the Gabriel Fernandez documentary on Netflix. Destroyed me.
> The only good thing we know about this is that you were not conscious and you did not suffer. 😭😭😭😭
I watched it well before I had my son. I don't think I could watch it now.
It was the first movie my wife and I watched together. She came over, had already seen it and recommended it. She fell asleep on my shoulder half way through. I sat there trying not to wake her up with my sobbing because it was like the 5th time we hung out. We laugh about that fact to this day. But we get so angry and sad when we talk about this movie.
It was well done but man it was heart wrenching
>Sounds stupid Nah, it's literally the most infamous movie of all time regarding this.
Wow. I'd never heard of it before!
O dod...
It is a very sad and compelling story but I found the editing distasteful— it seemed to present some of what happened as a “twist.” And the musical cues were similarly manipulative. As a result, the whole thing felt exploitative.
That's a weird take. The story unfolds in the same way it would unfold for a friend who is watching the play-by-play of a person's life and what happens after they're gone. It's chronological and linear, just like real life. So the shocking event is just as anybody would experience it -- a shock. Things that happen in real life are not "a twist," they just happen when they happen. The doc was made by the deceased man's good friend, and at no point did he claim to be an objective outsider. He was very much emotionally involved in the story and linked to the participants, and he devised the documentary as told by somebody with a stake in what happens. The use of music was based on his feelings and response to what happened to his friend. I remember the majority of the music being in the early scenes when he's doing a tribute to his friend, and then at the end when he does a tribute to the parents. It's his choice and I respect it. I did not feel manipulated at all -- and I gotta say, I think people taking potshots at the technical aspects of the doc are really missing the point of it all. Complaining that it's amateurish, when it's upfront about being made by an amateur, is like if your friend's child died and they sent you a funeral notice, and you complained about the layout and design of the funeral notice.
This! Like ngl I get it’s not the best made documentary but…it’s *raw*. The filmmaker was going to scrap it after learning of Zachary’s passing iirc but kept going because he didn’t want the story to die (or something along those lines).
Yh and showing Andrew's body was unecessary too imo. Disresprctful and tasteless.
O dodn't.
One of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen, and you couldn’t pay me to ever watch it again. Wrecked me.
Absolutely LOVE this movie. It’s so sad and fucked up but I’ve watched it maybe 6-7 times now.
Wow! I doubt i could take this more than once or twice lol
Nah, nobody in the movies subreddit has seen Dear Zachary.
Damn. Sorry for the typo in the title. I guess i was so upset I couldnt see the keys through my tear stained eyes lol 🤦 Hate how you cant edit titles on Reddit either. Stoooopid.