A couple years ago Bob and I went through a "Brother's Keeper" obsession.
"Brother's Keeper" is a beautiful and brilliant documentary by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky "detailing the murder trial of Delbert Ward. Delbert was a member of a family of four elderly brothers in Munnsville, NY, working as semi-literate farmers and living together in isolation from the rest of society until brother William's death. The film explores possible motives for the crime, from 'mercy-killing' (Bill was ill at the time) to progressively more bizarre hypotheses." [lifted from Amazon.com]
Bob and I are both from Upstate New York, not too far from Munnsville. I remember the local media's coverage of the trial, it being difficult to avoid. Some of that coverage is included in the film. Although I missed the theatrical release, I rented the VHS several times, and when the DVD came out in 2003 we bought it immediately. After several viewings and discussions, we had the idea to try to find the Ward brothers' farm. Knowing that Delbert had recently died, we wondered if maybe the two remaining brothers were still living there? So, one Sunday in mid-November we bundled our six-year-old into the car and set out looking.
and we got lost lost lost.
Although I grew up in a rural area, I wasn't prepared for the true 'rural-ness' we found ourselves in the middle of. It was lovely — rolling hills, fields, odd little houses, family compounds, tiny little cemetaries — but we were lost. The maps I had brought were no help. A lot of the roads were quite rough or just dirt, and a fair few weren't labeled. We drove around and around. I snapped several photos of interesting things — at a crossroads a very old church converted into a home, pretty cows, etc — but wanted to save my film for the Ward brothers' farm.
After a couple hours, and mostly by luck, we found it. It was exactly how it looked in the documentary. The school bus was still there, the many barns and sheds, and the little patchwork-quilt of a house. It was late afternoon, only just getting dark, but we didn't see anyone. In an interview, the filmmakers said that the brothers did not mind people — fans of the film — stopping by, they actually enjoyed it, but by the time we got there, we felt that somehow it was wrong. Intrusive. In fact, I instantly regretted coming.
I did take one photo of the Farm, but have since misplaced it.
I remember being surprised by how many houses there were close by, within an easy 5-10 minute walk to the Farm. The documentary hints (and the description clearly states) that the brothers were in isolation from society. But this is not true. At first glance several of the houses looked abandonned, but as the sun started to set, I noticed lights on inside.
The feelings I was left with from this trip are mixed and difficult to describe. Not sadness, not pity. Almost more like a sense of longing to understand those people that I will never meet. It's a feeling I have when walking alone in the evening and pass a house with the lights on. One can see the people inside and I imagine their lives. I feel an ache.
We watched "Brother's Keeper" last night after letting it sit on the shelf for a while, and it is still, after all these years, a powerful film.
This is a photo I took of the Ward Brothers' neighbor.