Review #742: 'Brother's Keeper' (1992)

When God asks Cain where his brother is, Cain replies, "I know not, am I my brother's keeper?". Documentary film-makers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky shed the light of their focus not as much on the brother's guilt over the accusation of killing his brother, as on the massive social divide caused by this incident in a small rural village in New York. Living almost in solitude on the farm owned by their family for generations, the three remaining brothers Ward - Delmar, Lyman and Roscoe - were largely ignored by the townsfolk and dismissed as harmless simpletons until the media circus that engulfed their surrounding following the death of eldest brother William descended.

Shot in cinema verite style (Berlinger and Sinofsky worked under the Maysles brothers for a time), the three Ward brothers prove to be strange yet oddly sweet characters. They clearly haven't bathed for weeks, possibly months, their farm is half crumbled, and their living room is cramped and dank. When approached about the topic of women, it becomes clear that they probably haven't ever been with one, therefore inevitably condemning their family line. The main reason the townsfolk quickly gather their support for Delmar after he is accused of murder is because of their simple innocence, and because they have simply never caused any bother. On the opposite side of the spectrum, things are different, with hick stereotypes and cries on incest being broadcast of national TV.

Like Berlinger and Sinosky's Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hoods Hills (1996), the court room scenes are tense and overwhelmingly unfair. One of the most powerful scenes has one of the brother's, a man clearly of social ineptitude, lose his breath on the stand, requiring serious medical attention. This is a world almost alien to them, and they suffer in it due to illiteracy and possible retardation. But it's more than a simple court-room documentary, this is about how society fears and judges people and cultures they simply don't understand. The 'simple' folk seem to easily distinguish right from wrong, yet the fat suits sat behind their big desks play God against people not educated enough to properly fight back.


Directed by: Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky
Starring: Delbert Ward, Lyman Ward, Roscoe Ward
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie