Brother's Keeper

Released 1992
Directed by Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky

This is a very interesting documentary that wants to be salacious but delivers much more in spite of itself. Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky spent nearly a year filming Delbert Ward and his brothers, Roscoe and Lyman, while Delbert was charged and tried for the murder of his older brother, Bill. At the time the Ward brothers were in their sixties, and they all lived in a tiny farmhouse that made the Unabomber's shack look good. It's debatable whether the brothers were officially mentally handicapped, but they were definitely challenged. They lived their entire lives on their New York farm mostly secluded from society but able to function well enough to manage the farm. The four of them clung to each other and lived hard quiet lives raising crops and livestock, and we never would have heard of them if someone in law enforcement hadn't decided to investigate Bill's death.

Summary by Bill Alward

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