Brother's Keeper

UPC: 767685954232

Studio: New Video Group

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Adult Situations, Questionable for Children]

Summary: The first feature-length effort by documentary filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, Brother's Keeper unfolds a strange-but-true story about a most unorthodox family. 59-year-old Delbert Ward lives with his brothers Bill, Roscoe, and Lyman on a dairy farm near the upstate New York village of Munnville. Barely able to function on an adult level, the Ward brothers keep to themselves, ignored and shunned by their neighbors. When older brother Bill dies on June 5, 1990, the authorities determine that his death was not from natural causes. Suspected of a mercy killing, Delbert is charged with second degree murder. It gradually becomes apparent that the police coerced Delbert into signing a confession, whereupon his neighbors, who previously wanted nothing whatsoever to do with the man, begin lobbying passionately for his release. It's not that they believe that he's innocent, it's simply that he is one of "theirs." Berlinger and Sinofsky firmly refuse to sugarcoat their subject; their glimpses of the Mann brothers and their bizarre lifestyle might be unsettling to some. In addition to its other accomplishments, Brother's Keeper also demonstrates in a non-judgmental fashion how the media can manipulate public opinion, both positively and adversely. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Family & Personal

Awards: Best Documentary – National Board of Review Best Documentary – New York Film Critics Circle Audience Award – Sundance Film Festival Audience Award – Sundance Film Festival

Features: Filmmaker commentary by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Deleted scenes
Never-before-seen short film: "The Wards Take Manhattan"
Photo gallery
Original theatrical trailer featuring Spalding Gray
Filmmaker biographies
Interactive menus
Scene selection

Brother's Keeper

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 07/29/2003

Audio: DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo

Runtime: 105 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Introductory Titles [3:17]
2. On the Farm [6:07]
3. Questions [9:02]
4. Confession [9:34]
5. Support [7:14]
6. Delbert Under Scrutiny [6:04]
7. Brotherly Love [12:04]
8. Illiterate [12:04]
9. The Trial [10:49]
10. Lyman and Delbert on the Stand [:00]
11. Jury Deliberates [15:38]
12. End Titles [9:00]

Tom Wiener

The ability of Brother's Keeper to deal with so many different subjects -- problems of the elderly and mentally challenged, the debate over mercy killing, the shifting definitions of community -- is its greatest strength. Because there is a trial for murder at the center of this story, the film is also about the limitations of our justice system to deal with acts that fall in a gray area that borders on criminality. Delbert Ward may have helped his older brother Bill to die, but given the circumstances -- Bill's debilitating illness, Delbert and his brothers' inability to administer proper care, and their extreme sense of isolation -- passing legal judgment on the act is almost impossible. The film is most provocative in depicting the attitudinal shifts the citizens of Munnville, from indifference and even suppressed hostility to the Ward brothers to passionate defense of them as fellow citizens of a rural community that prides its being removed from the rest of the world. Would residents of an urban apartment building rally around their neighbors with the same kind of antipathy to outsiders? Brother's Keeper is that rare documentary that raises questions without definitively answering any of them. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Lyman Ward  Actor 
Joe Berlinger  Director 
Joe Berlinger  Executive Producer 
Joe Berlinger  Producer 
Joe Berlinger  Screenwriter 
Lidsay Law  Executive Producer 
Molly Mason  Composer (Music Score) 
Bruce Sinofsky  Director 
Bruce Sinofsky  Producer 
Bruce Sinofsky  Screenwriter 
Jay Ungar  Composer (Music Score) 
Jay Jungar  Composer (Music Score) 

Country: USA