a truly heart warming tale of murder
Added 4/6/2009
This movie was just one of those movies where you watch it once and just have to have it for all time. Its a part of history for central NY and for the start of cameras allowed in court rooms across America as well as corruption in the justice system. This movie gives you an unexplainable feeling from the start of the film to the finish, making it so you can hardly peel yourself away from it. A truly classic film and i am proud to have it among the collection of other films of true story nature of mine. Also a plus on this DVD is unseen footage now where you can unlike the VHS click on "special features" and view another part of the "Ward boys" history. truly amazing and well done documentary, a must see, and for someone like myself, a must own. Justin Lopez Sherburne NY.
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Amazing Documentary of Three Brothers in Rural Poverty
Added 12/26/2008
3 brothers in rural poverty come to the attention of the authorities in rural New York after one brother dies. It comes to light that the brother was terribly ill and was smothered to death by another brother. The authorities decide to prosecute but for what reason? The three brothers were odd, outcasts from the rural community they lived in and never attended school. They took care of each other in their own way and ran a farm that allowed them to take care of their needs but illness and aging placed stress on their lifestyle. Was the brother tired and angry about the ill brother and murder him in cold blood or distraught over his obvious suffering? A moving documentary with some very unlikely subjects.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Brother's Keeper DVD is a KEEPER!
Added 11/24/2008
This documentary movie is touching and one of my favorites. It is a compelling documentary that tugs at the heart and you want to share it with friends. My husband and I enjoyed it tremendously!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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An American tragedy.
Added 4/1/2008
Brother's Keeper (Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, 1992)
The saga of the Ward Boys remains, fifteen years later, one of the outright weirdest murder cases in American history. The Ward Boys were four brothers wholived outside Munnsville, NY, a bucolic upstate town. Their lives were turned upside down when William, the oldest brother, died. His brother Adelbert was arrested for his murder. Not out of the ordinary, you say? It becomes so when you realize that Adelbert, the youngest of the bunch, was fifty-nine when he stood trial.
Berlinger and Sinofsky seem to side with the prosecution's original thesis, that the killing was an act of euthanasia. Bill Ward was, evidently, suffering from a terminal disease, and had gotten to the point where life was nothing but pain. Thus, the original question the movie asks is whether euthanasia ought to be a crime. That is a worthwhile subject for a documentary in itself (and has been the subject of more than a few), but things get a whole lot weirder when the prosecution changes its angle of attack and starts labeling the murder as a deviant sex crime. No, I won't spoil the fun for you; watch the film and you can see the prosecution spell out this ludicrous idea in their own words. Berlinger and Sinofsky spent months in Munnsville, interviewing everyone they could get their hands on and more, and we get an interesting picture of the town and the Ward Boys themselves (who seem to have no real idea of what's going on; the best-educated of them is semi-literate, and all seem to suffer various levels of hearing difficulty). It may be hard for people to grasp how, in the nineteen-nineties, four brothers could possibly live in such squalor, and without most of the modern conveniences (for example, their shack has no running water); as shocking as the murder trial is, the day-to-day existence of the Ward Boys is even more so.
Here we are a decade and a half later, and Lyman, the last of the Wards, died in August of 2007. Thus, it is almost certain that we will never know what happened on the night of Bill Ward's death. Ultimately, however, it's a question that doesn't need answered; this started out as a document of a murder trial, but became a story about four brothers, three of whom stand against an adversity they cannot fathom. It is fine cinema from first minute to last, and well worth watching. ****
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It has been a long time since a film has moved me to tears. This one did. This story of three simple brothers that may or may not be victims of the justice system moved me. As the documentary progressed, I felt myself becoming personally involved with the people. I think this documentary changed the way I look at people.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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a truly heart warming tale of murder
Added 4/6/2009
This movie was just one of those movies where you watch it once and just have to have it for all time. Its a part of history for central NY and for the start of cameras allowed in court rooms across America as well as corruption in the justice system. This movie gives you an unexplainable feeling from the start of the film to the finish, making it so you can hardly peel yourself away from it. A truly classic film and i am proud to have it among the collection of other films of true story nature of mine. Also a plus on this DVD is unseen footage now where you can unlike the VHS click on "special features" and view another part of the "Ward boys" history. truly amazing and well done documentary, a must see, and for someone like myself, a must own. Justin Lopez Sherburne NY.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Amazing Documentary of Three Brothers in Rural Poverty
Added 12/26/2008
3 brothers in rural poverty come to the attention of the authorities in rural New York after one brother dies. It comes to light that the brother was terribly ill and was smothered to death by another brother. The authorities decide to prosecute but for what reason? The three brothers were odd, outcasts from the rural community they lived in and never attended school. They took care of each other in their own way and ran a farm that allowed them to take care of their needs but illness and aging placed stress on their lifestyle. Was the brother tired and angry about the ill brother and murder him in cold blood or distraught over his obvious suffering? A moving documentary with some very unlikely subjects.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
Brother's Keeper DVD is a KEEPER!
Added 11/24/2008
This documentary movie is touching and one of my favorites. It is a compelling documentary that tugs at the heart and you want to share it with friends. My husband and I enjoyed it tremendously!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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