'Capturing the Friedmans' is a documentary rooted in investigative storytelling and avoids prioritizing identity factors over narrative detail. The film focuses on facts, interviews, and the ambiguities surrounding the case. There's little indication of any forced representation or characters written to serve ideological quotas. It’s a straightforward, if uncomfortably intimate, real-life drama rather than a showcase for contemporary identity politics.

Rather than bashing traditional institutions or values, the film presents a sensitive and complex portrait of a family and community in turmoil. Religion, family, and morality are not cartoonishly depicted as backward, but instead explored in all their messy, human detail. There's no overt attempt to subvert gender roles or rewrite cultural values for modern tastes.

The documentary presents multiple perspectives, whether viewers like them or not. It doesn’t peddle a particular worldview; if anything, it emphasizes confusion and ambiguity. No one side is lionized, and alternative interpretations are presented rather than villainized.