BROTHER'S KEEPER
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Date Released: variable Running Length: 1:44 Rated: NR (Mature themes, animal slaughter)
Featuring: Delbert, Roscoe, and Lyman Ward, and the townsfolk of Munnsville, NY Directors: Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky Producers: Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky Screenplay: Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky Music: Jay Ungar and Molly Mason Released by Creative Thinking International
BROTHER'S KEEPER is a documentary that chronicles the death of 64 year old Bill Ward, the arrest of his 59-year-old brother Delbert for the killing, and the subsequent murder trial (and verdict). Producers/Directors/Writers Berlinger and Sinofsky are careful to present both sides of the story, although their bias for the "Ward boys" is evident.
Joe Berlinger was present at the screening of BROTHER'S KEEPER which I attended. After the film was over, he spent approximately twenty minutes talking to the audience about the making of the film and his relationship with the Ward boys. One element that he highlighted was how he and his partner, Bruce Sinofsky, made an effort to get to know the picture's subjects--and earn their trust--before ever shooting a frame of film. The rapport they established comes across.
BROTHER'S KEEPER is a remarkable film, and a tremendous feat of documentary film-making. Put together on a minuscule budget, it has all of the power, drama, and tension of a big-budget Hollywood thriller. That it is real gives the story that much more punch.
This is not a "talking heads" movie, with an omniscient announcer's voice-over chronicling events. Instead, the story is presented as it unfolds. When the film makers began their project, they had no idea how the movie would turn out, or whether Delbert would be found innocent or guilty. The film evolves exactly as the real-life tale did, complete with a twist or two, and genuine suspense as the jury deliberates the verdict.
Ultimately, however, BROTHER'S KEEPER is less about the guilt or innocence of Delbert Ward as it is an indictment of police procedure, a look at the role of the media in criminal proceedings, and an examination of a people and culture that most mainstream Americans never encounter. Delbert and his brothers are throw-backs in time--indigent farmers who live together in a house without central heating, sleep together for warmth, can barely read or write, and bathe perhaps once every six months. At times, their speech is so slurred that it's difficult to understand what they're saying.
At first look, Delbert and his brothers seem unlikely candidates to base a documentary on. My initial reaction was that it would be impossible to create the necessary rapport between them and the audience. I was wrong. What Berlinger and Sinofsky have accomplished in BROTHER'S KEEPER is astounding. I left the theater feeling as if I knew these people, and, more than simply knowing them, I cared about them.
BROTHER'S KEEPER is anything but a traditional documentary; it's more engaging and less dry than other films in the category. Since the movie is getting extremely-limited distribution (Berlinger and Sinofsky are handling this themselves since all the major distributors turned them down), it may be hard to find. But, if it comes to a theater in your neck of the woods, my advice is to go see it. If not, there will still be an opportunity when it shows up on American Playhouse for the 1993-94 season.
Rating: 8.9 (A, ***1/2)
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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