--- title: "Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/dear-zachary-a-letter-to-a-son-about-his-father/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/dear-zachary-a-letter-to-a-son-about-his-father" critics_score: 81 critics_reviews: 7 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008): what the critics said Critics' score 81 from 7 reviews: 7 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative. The reviews are consistently positive about Dear Zachary, with praise centred on its emotional force and the intimacy of Kurt Kuenne’s portrait of his friend. Critics repeatedly single out the editing: home footage, photographs and frank interviews bring the subject and his loved ones close, while giving the documentary an urgent pace. Its combination of personal memorial and anger at the Canadian justice system is widely seen as affecting, even when its methods are forceful. The reservations concern how hard the film pushes for a response. The Guardian questions its manipulative tone and some footage choices; Variety is similarly troubled by the polemical approach, while admiring the editing. Time Out finds some cinematic roughness but values the immediacy. The spread is fairly narrow: these are disagreements about restraint and polish within a positive consensus, rather than doubts about the story’s power. ## Slant Magazine — Rob Humanick Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 26 February 2009. Kuenne’s film breathlessly stares down the spiraling abyss of tragedy and miraculously finds the light at the end of the tunnel. It singles out the virtuoso, artful evocation through layered montages of home movies, photos, and interviews that assault the viewer with raw emotion. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/dear-zachary-a-letter-to-a-son-about-his-father/) ## The New York Times — Stephen Holden Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 30 October 2008. The critic finds it impossible not to be fired up by this incendiary personal documentary and polemical rant against the Canadian justice system. It honors the murdered friend's memory while provoking outrage over the handling of his unstable ex-girlfriend. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/movies/31dear.html) ## Los Angeles Times — Robert Abele Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 7 November 2008. The film is an undeniably shattering story of grief, outrage, love and confusion. It has a scorched-earth policy when it comes to stirring up feelings, though it is forgivably shaky in its impassioned unfolding. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-nov-07-et-capsules7-story.html) ## The Hollywood Reporter — The Associated Press Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 29 October 2008. The film is an anguished cry fueled by love and rage that turns into a riveting crime thriller and indictment of the Canadian justice system. It singles out the deftly orchestrated portrait of Bagby and his parents' activism in the face of tragedy. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/dear-zachary-a-letter-a-125288/) ## Time Out — Mark Holcomb Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 28 October 2008. The film is an agile, dizzyingly thorough tear-wringer that blends memorial, crime drama and legal-reform elements, surpassing Capturing the Friedmans as one of the most searingly personal documentaries of its era. Kuenne's skillful editing of personal footage and emotionally frank interviews with the subject's loved ones create immediacy despite some lack of cinematic sophistication. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/dear-zachary-a-letter-to-a-son-about-his-father) ## The Guardian — Tim Dowling Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 23 February 2010. The review describes the film's powerful and stunning impact on the viewer after it shifts from a memorial to a harrowing account of murder, custody battles and tragedy. It notes some discomfort with the film's manipulative tone and questionable footage choices while acknowledging its undeniable force. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2010/feb/23/married-single-other-storyville) ## Variety — Peter Debruge Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 25 January 2008. Festival review. What begins as a poignant tribute snowballs into a gut-wrenching true-crime story and shamelessly manipulative polemic. It is above all a virtuoso feat in editing that leaves audiences emotionally exhausted. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2008/film/markets-festivals/dear-zachary-a-letter-to-a-son-about-his-father-1200548699/) ## Collider — Brian Orndorf Rating A minus. 30 October 2008. The film is an outstanding, monumentally emotional documentary that presents grief with poetic candor and will knock viewers flat with its range of emotions. It singles out the stirring portrait of Andrew constructed from home movies and photos, along with the overwhelming love flowing through the narrative, while noting some overly chaotic editing and missing psychological insight into the killer. [Read the review](https://collider.com/dear-zachary-a-letter-to-a-son-about-his-father-movie-review/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/dear-zachary-a-letter-to-a-son-about-his-father.md