Brothers keeper [NTSC]

This award-winning documentary focuses on a controversial murder trial that took place in the Upstate New York farming community of Munnsville in 1990. 59 year old Delbert Ward, one of four reclusive, eccentric brothers who shared the same dilapidated two-room shack on their dairy farm for over 60 years, was accused of murder when his ailing older brother was found dead in the bed they shared. After being interrogated by the state police, the simple-minded and barely literate Delbert signed a confession stating that he smothered his brother as an act of mercy. Believing him incapable of murder, and not possessing the mental capacity to understand police bureaucracy, the local community rallied around Delbert and his brothers, raising bail in a matter of hours. The film covers the period between Delbert’s arrest and his trial, focusing on the daily lives of the ‘Ward boys’ as national media scrutiny intensifies around them. As the state police gather ‘evidence’ that incest was a motive for the killing, the local community’s support for the outcast Ward brothers strengthens. Interviews with state police and prosecuters, local residents and Delbert’s lawyer build the case for and against the accused. An intriguing, compelling and unashamedly subjective real-life murder mystery that goes beyond simply telling a good story to reveal the part the media plays in the formation of personal and community identity.