True-crime documentary about a death in the family: one of four elderly illiterate bachelor brothers on a farm in central New York goes to bed one night, suffering from a variety of ailments, and never wakes up. Natural causes or mercy killing? The brother with whom he shared the bed is charged with murder, and filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky hang out with the surviving Ward "boys" -- Delbert, Lyman, and Roscoe -- while awaiting a court date, filling out the story with talking heads. Strong on character interest (particularly simple-minded-codger character) and on atmospheric interest (rustic squalor) but not so much on cinematic interest. (1992) — Duncan Shepherd
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