a letter to a son from his father
conceived and created by Kurt Kuenne
Kuenne's close friend Andrew Bagby was murdered by Shirley Jane Turner after he ended their tumultuous relationship. Shortly after she was arrested, she announced she was pregnant with Bagby's child, a boy she named Zachary. Kuenne decided to interview numerous relatives, friends, and associates of the dead man and incorporate their loving remembrances into a film that would serve as a cinematic scrapbook for the son who never knew him.
The film premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival and was shown at Cinequest Film Festival, South by Southwest, the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, the Sarasota Film Festival, the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, the Calgary International Film Festival, and the Edmonton International Film Festival, among others, before going into limited theatrical release in the United States, opening in one city at a time in select metropolitan areas. It was broadcast by MSNBC on December 7, 2008 and has been repeated several times since.
PLOT
Kuenne and Bagby are childhood friends, and when aspiring filmmaker Kuenne begins making home movies, Bagby frequently appears in them and, as they became more professional in quality in later years, invests in them as well. Bagby is a 28-year-old medical student when he meets Shirley Jane Turner, a twice-divorced Canadian American general practitioner who is thirteen years his senior. Bagby's parents, friends, and associates are wary of the relationship, but initially Turner seems to keep Bagby grounded and relatively free of stress as he pursues his career.
Eventually, the relationship crumbles and Bagby ends it. Turner relocates to the Midwestern United States but apparently is consumed with anger strong enough to prompt her to drive 1,600 miles overnight to Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where she shoots Bagby numerous times in the parking lot of a local park on November 5, 2001 before returning home.
Bagby's family and friends immediately urge police to investigate Turner, and after a lengthy investigation in which extensive evidence is accumulated, she is arrested. When she is released on bail, she flees to St. John's, Newfoundland to avoid prosecution. Soon after she discovers she is pregnant. Thus begins a long legal battle waged by Bagby's parents David and Kathleen, who move from Sunnyvale, California to Canada, determined to gain custody of their grandson and Turner's rendition for a Pennsylvania trial while she fights extradition to the United States in the Canadian courts while free on bail.
Turner eventually is returned to prison, only to be released again by Justice Gayle Welsh, who feels she has exhibited no behavior that suggests she poses a threat to society. Turner thus regains custody of Zachary. On August 18, 2003, Turner, carrying the infant Zachary, jumps into the Atlantic Ocean from a fishing wharf in Foxtrap; both perish.[2]
No longer just a legacy for Zachary, Kuenne's film also becomes a polemical rant against the Canadian justice system for catering to a dangerous sociopath and failing to recognize how dangerous she is.
CRITICAL RECEPTION
Peter Debruge of the Variety called the film "a virtuoso feat in editing" and noted, "The way Kuenne presents the material, with an aggressive style that lingers less than a second on most shots, it's impossible not to feel emotionally exhausted." [3]
Martin Tsai of the New York Sun said the film "has so many unexpected developments that it plays like a first-rate thriller . . . and the film is so unsettling that it will stay with viewers for a long time. Like . . . The Thin Blue Line, Dear Zachary borrows some narrative dramatic tricks, and they pay off remarkably well. It's hands down one of the most mind-blowing true-crime movies in recent memory, fiction or nonfiction." [4]
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
The Chicago Film Critics Association nominated the film Best Documentary. The Society of Professional Journalists presented it with its Sigma Delta Chi Award for Best Documentary, it received the Special Jury and Audience Awards at the Cinequest Film Festival, it was named an Audience Favorite at Hot Docs, it received the Audience Awards at the St. Louis International Film Festival and the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, and it was named Best Documentaty at the Orlando Film Festival. [5]
SYNOPSIS
Shortly after his best friend, Dr. Andrew Bagby, was slain by jealous ex-girlfriend Dr. Shirley Turner, filmmaker Kurt Kuenne was shocked to learn that Turner was pregnant with Bagby's unborn child. Hoping to create a film that would serve as both a memorial to Bagby and an introduction to the father the boy would never know, Kuenne quickly began production on a film celebrating the life of his late friend. Traveling across the entire continental United States, Kuenne made it his personal mission to interview everyone who had ever known his best friend so their memories would be captured on camera before they faded. Meanwhile, upon learning that Turner had fled to Newfoundland, Bagby's devastated parents uprooted their entire lives and relocated to the easternmost providence of Canada in order to fight for the future of their newborn grandson, Zachary. During the production, however, the Canadian government freed Turner on bail as she awaited extradition to the United States. Unfortunately, during that crucial time, the situation took a turn for the worse -- a turn that could have been prevented had the Canadian justice system heeded all the warning signs.
- Jason Buchanan
....
For Kurt learns that Shirley was pregnant with Andrew's son Zachary when she shot Andrew. And that's the first chapter. The dismaying part follows as the Canadian judicial system repeatedly fails to mete out justice. I won't reveal additional details of this aspect of Dear Zachary, but it is shocking and catastrophic, especially given our attitudes toward Canadian common sense. As the investigation of Andrew's murder and its aftermath proceeds, Andrew's parents, David and Kathleen, become thoroughly involved as Zachary's touchingly loving grandparents, moving from California to Newfoundland to take care of Zachary as much as allowed by Shirley. Through many interviews with them, Kurt documents their trying days and months. David Bagby, Andrew's father, wrote a popular book about his experiences called Dance with the Devil.
As that title suggests, there's no pretense to objectivity in Dear Zachary, nor does it seem warranted given the circumstances. In his guiding narration, Kurt clearly says he intends for this movie to bring Andrew to life for Zachary. To successfully accomplish this, Kurt goes back to the many movies he and Andrew shot as kids and edits them into a tender tribute. He adds snippets from interviews with many of Andrew's friends-when and how they heard the news, what they remember about him, their reaction to the ongoing tragedy. The kaleidoscope of impressions and memories add up to a three-dimensional portrait of this budding doctor committed to his family-practice residency in small Latrobe, Pennsylvania. As the picture of who Andrew was and of what happened comes into focus, it's impossible not to be swept up in Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father and to be in tears and outraged by the end.
-Reviewed by Diane Carson
LINKS
http://www.watch-movies-online.tv/movies/dear_zachary_a_letter_to_a_son_about_his_father/
http://www.novamov.com/video/49a83db769c99
http://www.andrewbagby.com/saying_goodbye.html
http://www.andrewbagby.com/remembered.html
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/cassidy/2008/02/27/the-story-of-kate-david-and-andrew-bagby/
http://www.cinematical.com/tag/Andrew+Bagby/
so for now I think that this is enough for my contribution about the story of Mr. ANDREW BAGBY and his son ZACHARY ANDREW TURNER.
I may not be that good in writing things but at least I tried hard to express their thought
in my own simple way and that
my sympathy are with them.
For Andrew and Zachary I will pray hard for the both you and tell your story to my
other friends and family.
For KATE and DAVID who devoted their lives for the two
man that they love dearly
I will pray for both of you also and I hope that you will continue your good deeds
to other people and fight for your advocacy in life.
You two are very great people...
one in a million ...
and for those people who are in powers please do your job properly
and don't just waste the lives of good people.
