Brother s Keeper (1993)

This acclaimed documentary explores the odd world of the four elderly Ward brothers--disheveled, illiterate farmers who have lived their entire lives in a dilapidated two room shack. When William Ward dies in the bed that he shared with his brother Delbert, police officers become suspicious. Citing motives ranging from sex crime to euthanasia, they arrest Delbert for murder, penetrating the isolated, antiquated world that left "the boys" forgotten eccentrics for so many years. As the hazy case against Delbert is investigated and brought to trial, the previously distant population of their idyllic New York town, Munnsville, warmly embrace the remaining Ward brothers, rallying in small town solidarity against the seemingly corrupt urban authorities. Though the film's raison d'être is the murder case, the Ward brothers' existence forms the riveting and intriguing crux of the film. Using their nearly unparalleled ability to gain the trust and affection of their subjects, Berlinger and Sinofsky open up a stunningly rich and complex world. This is anthropology at its most haunting; an in-depth look into an untouched slice of Americana that succeeds, as only the best documentary can, in capturing lives that are far too strange, beautiful, and elusive to be imagined.