The Keepers

A fascinating long view of a group of courageous and tenacious women, who refuse to let slide the brutal murder of a young lady who was important and highly influential in their lives and whom they all loved and respected, a case which the local police had run aground about almost 50 years ago, or seemingly.

This shouldn't be regarded as a murder/mystery so much as an insight into how an appalling crime can open up unexpected cans of worms of broken psyches and institutional corruption and cover-ups for as far as its tendrils reach. The battle between good and evil is rarely better manifested than in the scenario presented here, where some of those invested with the authority of presiding over this, in both metaphysical and actual terms, have clearly acted out both.

It's a natural temptation for us to beatify the dead and only speak well of them, but in this case it appears to be entirely appropriate, in fact the integrity and decency of the victim is very likely the cause of her being slain at the hands, by proxy or otherwise, of those without compassion or apparent remorse. The actuality of who really cares about any of us in the end is shone a light upon here, and although it does not answer the many questions that it throws up regarding the crimes, it does raise the profiles of not just one, but two vicious killings, and will hopefully give further voice to those that were either silenced or masked at the time, and so this is also the story of people trying to regain their personal and collective sense of empowerment from those who would, and have, taken this from them.

An admirable and effective documentary that encourages its audience to look deeper and keep on questioning. The bravery of all those facing their demons here is tangible, provoking us to take action ourselves when it's called for in our lives, and to do the right thing.

This is a remarkable documentary. I am not going to talk about it too much (you will notice there is no Spoiler Warning here), because feel strongly that if you are thinking of watching it. Please do.

What you will see unfold before you is both horrifying and deeply moving. The human beings here searching for both truth and acknowledgment are just the most inspiring and brave people. It reminded me of why we (all of us) should never put all of our trust in powerful Institutions. We need to be vigilant. All powerful Institutions have a habit of lying to protect the Institution, rather than those they are supposed to serve.

It brings the news stories of survivors of abuse directly from the news to the personal. It packs one hell of a wallop.

I'm petrified by the share amount of corruption is going on right in front of our eyes. It is absolutely staggering. How did it all come to this? Or has it been here all along? Is our society corrupt to the very core? I remember when the story about the abuse in the catholic church broke in 2002, and the movie "spotlight" which i consider to be the best film of 2015, tells this story. How they started investigating a priest for abuse and rape, and then they pretty much opened a can of worms.

The story exploded, and grew so fast the reporters were in doubt this could even be true. But as we now know, it is true. And we know it was covered up by the Catholic church. They knew. There is no doubt about this. Thousands of priests abused and raped children all over the world, in large numbers.

When someone rapes and/or abuses children, that is a tragedy in itself. And those performing such acts, or assist, have knowledge of but keep it secret or cover it up, are all equally guilty. What scares me after i saw "spotlight" is that it made me realize how big this problem is. But this is not the scariest part. The scariest part is that the police, high ranked priests, politicians, justice agencies and judges help cover it up.

For someone to see "the keepers" documentary and say: This cannot happen. Well you live in a fantasy world, and you better start reading and educate yourself. We live in a rotten society where the church, which is based on being the good, a place for people to find hope, for many is a place of horror and despair. And that you as a victim, will be silenced, threatened, tortured and/or killed if you speak up against them.

How is this even possible? Where is the justice? These people that have been abused are dying while still being traumatized. And i can only imagine the enormous sense of feeling lost they must have, when they constantly see the justice system fail them over and over and over again. It is absolutely totally unforgivable.

What we are witnessing is a system that protects itself and it's "members". This system is not only the church, this system as we now know, spans all the way to top politicians, which are receiving huge donations from the church, so they can stay in power, and be compliant. This is corruption we cannot allow in leading societies as we live in, this is dictatorships level of justice.

Recently in the news there has been articles covering a series of sexual abuses in Argentina by catholic priests, and that the pope himself has been trying to cover it up. And the third highest ranked Cardinal in the Catholic church was yesterday arrested for abuse by the police in Australia. This is never going to end.

Religions can inflict fear on children, grown ups as well, making them scared of an angry god if they do not do exactly what the priests tell them to do, and since god sees everything, they can not tell anyone about what has happened, or else there will be serious consequences. Holy damn, how much power the church has, and with great powers comes great responsibilities, but also corruption. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

We are suppose to have systems in place to prevent these things from happening, and at least bring justice to victims of such crimes, but since the system is rigged and corrupt to the core, nothing will ever be done. Except if people wake up and demand change in large numbers, we can't sit here and just accept these things.

So thank you for making this documentary. May this be a way to raise even more awareness to how imperfect the world is right outside our doorstep. And may it result in real change in a deeply corrupt system that actually thinks rape and abuse of children and murder are perfectly OK. When someone suicides as a result of being abused like this, that is murder. When someone suicides because the system is not there to protect them as a result of their abuse or bring justice for such crimes, it is also murder.

We all have blood on our hands if we don't change the system.

In this seven-episode true-crime documentary from Netflix (released May 19 of this year), The Keepers explores the 1969 death of 26-year old Catholic nun and Baltimore schoolteacher Sister Cathy Cesnik and touches on 20-year-old Joyce Malecki's murder four days later. Both slayings remain unsolved. The cover up that follows has echoes of Spotlight (see my review of January 16, 2016).

Gemma Hoskins and Abbie Schaub, two retired 60-something grandmothers and former students of Sister Cathy's at Archbishop Keough High School, still feel disturbed by the almost-half-a- century-old cold case. Who savagely beat and then murdered beloved teacher Sister Cathy? Starting a Facebook group in 2014 to reach out to others to share information about Sister Cathy's murder, these two badass senior citizens–as intrepid and analytical as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple–uncover a cold case like no other that the Baltimore police or Catholic Church has had to contend with. Abbie and Gemma create a safe space for people who had been afraid to speak up. And the role of social media is astounding as a tool for criminal investigation. These two amateur sleuths use the internet brilliantly! See the entire review at: unhealedwound.com

I don't write reviews and yet here I am. This documentary is very addictive. My husband and I , both brought up Catholic in the 60's, couldn't stop watching. It sickens me and yet I know it's all true. It makes me hate the Catholic Church for all of their power and manipulation, with no regard for the Sanctity of human rights. Thank you to Ryan, the director of this masterpiece, to Jean and the others who are still trying to get to the truth. I couldn't get this film out of my head...it is transformational.