"Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father" is an astounding, sometimes hard to watch, powerful, moving documentary that started out as a goodbye to a friend, became a true-crime thriller, and ends up a tribute to a set of astounding parents.

Filmmaker Kurt Kuenne began the movie after his childhood friend and the star of his first amateur movies, Dr. Andrew Bagby, was murdered by his ex-girlfriend. The girlfriend, Shirley Turner (who served her medical residency in Council Bluffs, Iowa), fled to Newfoundland, where she and Bagby had gone to medical school, and was protected by Canadian law from extradition to the United States.

Then came the stunning news: Turner was pregnant with Bagby's child. To be near their grandchild, Bagby's parents moved to Canada and fought for custody of baby Zachary.

But things don't get better for the Bagbys, to say the least.

Kuenne, a close friend of the family, tells that heartrending story in gripping fashion, cutting back and forth from interviews with Andrew's friends, old footage of Andrew, narration based on official documents and court testimony, and his own thoughts about Andrew and Zachary.

That combination of styles makes "Dear Zachary" an innovative documentary. But it is the tragic story and the courage and perseverance of David and Kate Bagby that make it a movie that shouldn't be missed. This is nonfiction filmmaking at its best.

Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.