Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 31, 1993 TAG: 9307310081
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Mike Mayo
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"Brother's Keeper" is a documentary as gripping and suspenseful as the best fiction. In fact, filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky tell the story as if it were a murder mystery, establishing characters and setting, squeezing out clues and key information at a measured pace, and finally ending with an emotional courtroom denouement filmed as it happened.
The four Ward boys, as they were called by their neighbors even though they were grown men in their 50s and 60s, had spent their entire lives on their central New York farm. Childlike, largely uneducated and possibly retarded, they lived in a squalid two-room shack without running water. Then in June, 1990, the oldest, Bill Ward, died in his sleep.
Was it congestive heart failure, or did Delbert Ward put his sick and fragile brother out of his misery by smothering him? Or, as the authorities would intimate later, did something much more sinister happen? In any case, after the state police questioned the brothers for several hours without the presence of an attorney, they got a confession from Delbert.
That's when the people of Munnsville rallied to support the three men who had little, if any, idea what was happening to them. Particularly in the early scenes, Berlinger and Sinofsky - who produced, directed and edited - make it clear that these three old guys were deeply frightened by the intrusions of the larger world on their insulated lives. Without the help of their community, the legal system could have accused and convicted the Wards of anything.
As the wheels of justice ground forward, Berlinger and Sinofsky got much closer to the brothers. They came to understand that part of rural New York, giving the film a vivid sense of place. The score by Jay Unger and Molly Mason, whose music was such an important part of the PBS series "The Civil War," is just as effective here. More importantly, the Ward brothers become real individuals beyond the stereotyped country bumpkins.
At the same time, a critical viewer has to wonder just how much the cameras affected the events as they unfolded. Berlinger and Sinofsky weren't the only ones who were interested. Local stations, network magazine shows and tabloid TV all gave the story considerable coverage, and doubtless played a part in its outcome.
And one footnote: "Brother's Keeper" received funding from both PBS and the National Endowment for the Arts. Keep it in mind the next time a candidate for public office tries to use the NEA as a whipping boy. This is the kind of film that's driven by commitment, and could never be made within the conventional studio system. It deserves wide distribution. And if viewers who wouldn't normally consider a "documentary" will give this one a try, they'll be happily surprised.
A similar happy surprise is waiting for those who discover or rediscover the none-too-subtle pleasures of "The Chase."
When the film was made in 1966, the stories of infighting between writer Lillian Hellman and director Arthur Penn became an excuse for its lack of commercial success. That same year, "The Ugly Dachshund" and "That Darn Cat" did better box-office. But with the benefit of a quarter-century's hindsight, this bubbling potboiler looks pretty good. And it even appears to be gaining some dubious respectability.
In the current issue of Movieline magazine, it's lauded as "the first American film of the '70s," thereby maintaining Movieline's reputation for being simultaneously serious, silly and self-important. Because "The Chase" is nothing more (or less) than a soap opera, with all the excesses and occasional insights of the form.
For those who might have missed the movie, it's set in a small Texas town where wealthy Val Rogers (E.G. Marshall) rules the place like a feudal lord, and that's fine; everybody except Sheriff Calder (Marlon Brando), who was appointed to the position by Val, understands how the system works, but then Bubber Reeves (Robert Redford) escapes from jail, and the whole town knows that Bubber's wife Anna (Jane Fonda) is having an affair with Val's son Jake (James Fox), even though Val actually wanted Jake to marry Ruby (Angie Dickinson) but she married Calder instead, and Edwin (Robert Duvall), the cowardly bank officer who didn't get invited to Val's birthday party, is sure that Bubber's going to kill him, and his wife (Janice Rule) is carrying on with ...
You get the idea.
Clearly, the cast makes the movie. There are familiar faces in every corner, and John Barry's pure Hollywood score is a perfect complement for this heavy-breathing melodrama. But the enduring appeal of "The Chase" lies beneath the surface of the plot. Despite their conflicts, Penn and Hellman managed to capture the unsettled spirit of the mid-'60s - the hollowness of "the system," racial tensions, the unpredictability of mob action, the generational conflicts that were just beginning to show and, of course, the violence.
Any claims to historical cinematic importance are more than a little suspect here. "The Chase" is mainstream popular escapism. Its extended shelf-life in the video store proves that some good deeds are rewarded, and in time, competent filmmaking receives its just due.
\ The Essentials:
Brother's Keeper: *** FoxLorber. 104 min. Unrated, contains some strong language, mature subject matter, scenes of animal slaughter.
The Chase: *** Columbia TriStar. 135 min. Unrated, contains some strong violence.
\ New releases this week:
Sommersby: *** Stars Richard Gere, Jodie Foster. Directed by John Amiel. Warner. 110 min. Rated PG-13 for sexual content, some strong language and violence.
This revision of "The Return of Martin Guerre" is a thoroughly enjoyable, old-fashioned period drama. Though the extensive use of Western Virginia locations will generate considerable local interest, this is just a good story that's exceptionally well-told.
\ Untamed Heart: ++ Stars Marisa Tomei, Rosie Perez, Christian Slater. Directed by Tony Bill. MGM/UA (Warner). 100 min. Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual content, strong language.
This is an unusual, often clumsy love story about a waitress and a busboy. Marisa Tomei, who won a best-supporting Oscar for "My Cousin Vinnie," is terrific; Slater is irritating and slow. Veteran director Tony Bill ("Crazy People") seems uncharacteristically unsure at times.
\ Sniper: ** Stars Tom Berenger, Billy Zane. Directed by Luis Llosa. Columbia TriStar. 98 min. Rated R for violence, strong language.
"Sniper" is a good action movie that could have been a very good action movie, maybe even a great one. This story of two American snipers trying to kill a Panamanian politician is exciting and the characters are complex, but the moral issues involved are only hinted at, never examined.
\ Army of Darkness: *** Stars Bruce Campbell. Directed by Sam Raimi. MCA/Universal. 81 min. Rated R for graphic violence, bizarre special effects, some strong language.
In the third of Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" films, everything is played for laughs. It's a parody of several genres of popular entertainment - horror, action, sword-and-sorcery, s-f - and absolutely no convention is sacred. Imagine a combination of the Three Stooges and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
by CNB