I have always been greatly upset not only by the revelations of child sexual abuse by priests, but, worse, the attempts by the Church to protect their priests over their children. I believe that awareness is crucial to ensuring that we never let this happen again, so I appreciated this well-crafted documentary that gave me more hard, concentrated information about one case, examining the experiences of the victims, the impact on their lives and families, the position of the church, law enforcement, government. I personally believe in the credibility of the victims, applaud them for sharing their stories and their pain, and applaud the women who will not let Sister Cathy's murder be buried and unwittingly uncovered the abuse that I also believe was at the root of it. I see that some reviewers are dismissing their claims and therefore dissing the documentary. Careful here - the fact is that a good documentary is not meant to convince, but to make you consider and think, and this one definitely has.
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penniweninger21 May 2017
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hols319 May 2017This documentary is absolutely crushing.
Starting with the murder of the beautiful, kind spirited Sister Catherine Cesnik and young Joyce Malecki, to cover ups of sexual abuse via the Catholic Churches in Baltimore this documentary will leave you angry, upset and heartbroken.
It is also serves as a stark reminder of how far the law will go to get justice for Father Maskell's victims; tip, not a great distance, and just how much more work is needed to be done.
With the case left unsolved this documentary puts into perspective the sufferings of all involved and brings to fruition an investigation with no obvious end.
Excellent, interesting documentary. Definitely worth the watch. -
diana-y-paul1 July 2017In 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 -
This documentary could've been 20 episodes. The filmmaker did an outstanding job From the many reviews I have read, you do not seem to get it! This was not based on the suppressed memory of several people! This was based on the suppressed memory of one person! A memory so horrible *spoiler* (being shown the dead body of her beloved teacher & being told, "see what happens when you say bad things about people"), that she buried it deeply into her soul. For the reviewer who could not understand *spoiler* that Maskell showed her the dead body, I am assuming you did not watch the entire series? Maskell was "powerful and protected" - *spoiler* Maskell's brother was the Police lieutenant, his best friend was a policeman and Maskell was the Police chaplain...do I need to spell this out? Who would've believed Jane Doe IF she was not afraid to come forward? In addition, by showing her the body, he was directly threatening her. And to those reviewers who wonder about the lack of evidence? *Spoiler* did you miss the part where the police allegedly lost the evidence during Hurricane Agnes?
When the lawyers published an ad (NO money mentioned, just a "Do you know something?"), they received an influx of letters from women who either were affected or knew of someone who was affected.
And for you non-Catholics, you must understand that in the late 60s to 70s, priests were considered God. They were not questioned. They were not to be doubted. One man in the documentary said it best, when the priests visited Catholic elementary school classrooms, when the priests entered the classroom, "there was silence." Very true. So many sexually abused children of priests were deeply afraid to come forward. My own friends, who were abused in their childhood by our parish priest (from ages 8 to 12), did not tell me until they were in their 40s. When I asked "Why didn't you tell me?" their response was, "We were afraid you would tell your mother and she would call the parish or the police."
Jane Roe did not have suppressed memory! She came forward when she read that someone else had been abused. Then more and more came forward. And you must realize, those of us students who were unaffected by the abuse witnessed the behavior of our fellow students who were molested! They appeared drugged, their personalities had changed, their grades dropped, etc.
Nobody received $40 million dollars. Those affected received ridiculously modest settlements despite the horrors they had endured. And the ending *spoiler* which nobody seems to "get" is that this all could've been prevented if the Archdiocese of Baltimore had admitted to Jane Doe (the first woman to report the abuse at Archbishop Keough High School), that yes, indeed, her memories were confirmed by the fact that a year prior to her abuse, a mother at St. Clement's elementary school had reported Maskell's abuse of her son to the police! The Archdiocese told Jane Doe she did NOT have a case because there was no record of any abuse by this said "priest." Instead, the Archdiocese ignored this mother's protest and reassigned Maskell to Archbishop Keough where this monster unleashed further horrors upon many other young girls' lives with a willing accomplice, Father Magnus.
God bless all of the women affected by the Father Monsters and in loving memory to those who committed suicide, had abortions or gave birth and those currently enduring drug or alcohol dependencies or died due to those dependencies because of the atrocities of these two "priests". Maskell could've been removed by the Archdiocese of Baltimore but the AOB prevented it ase Archbishop Keeler was about to be made a Cardinal. And in loving memory of Sister Cathy Cesnik, who was killed because she was about to reveal all of these atrocities to the Archdiocese the next day, but was killed before she moved forward. -
Really well done documentary. I've watched four episodes so far and can't stop thinking about it. Truly horrific what these women were put through, by supposed people they could trust, and as teenagers! So sad. Truly hope Justice at least prevailed for perps in the afterlife!
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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. -
grandmazette22 July 2017I 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.
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CineRenaissance14 February 2020Shook me to the core. Hope they rot in hell or die the most horrendous death ever.
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What is wrong with the present batch of mini series from Netflix? The Keepers has a terrific and heart wrenching real story which is told perfectly over the first four episodes. The story unwraps beautifully and just when you relax gives a punch in the gut just with the story of the characters. Then suddenly around the fifth episode you realise the obvious padding of the story,the addition of unnecessary stuff and frankly the destruction of what could have been a tight, fantastic piece of documentary. Netflix -Why do you need to stretch a story to fit your obligatory 7- 8 episodes. Let the content decide the length or else you lose as you have with this series. Similar problems seem with other Netflix series like Mr Mercedes and others. Sad.
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I am so angry this happened in our society. I am so angry at the catholic church for hushing all this. Why didn't the church give him up? How could i go to the church and not think about this?? Thank you for opening my eyes!!! Great sequence of actions, the documentary was put togehter very well and the last episode just puts the crown on this series.
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mjoll28 May 2017The Keepers is good, not great. It is a very powerful documentary in terms of how the Catholic church enabled a serial pedophile, and in how it gives center stage to the brave people who stood up for themselves. Still, the seemingly central premise of Sister Catherine's murder, never really ties in to the bulk of the series. If you're hoping for compelling proof that her murder is tied to the Catholic church, the evidence of this is never strongly developed. In some ways, I finished the series more strongly convinced she was killed by a random predator than I believe it was connected to the church. On the other hand, the stories of the people who were abused by a priest, in almost full view of the church and the police, is extremely compelling and thought- provoking. I admire these people for speaking up and when the last credits rolled, I realized this series was really about providing true legitimacy to all people who have been sexually abused as children. That is the real story here - how sexual crimes against the innocent reverberate through their and other's lives for years and years. One final note is that it's clear that Sister Catherine was a very special person, and even though this documentary series doesn't deliver justice for her, it does convey an even stronger message about the way goodness can and will endure.
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corrado-prizzi23 May 2017I noticed one reviewer here declaring this story has no factual proof for the claims it makes! Well, you can lead a horse to water.. How there can be any doubting the sincerity of these brave individuals' accounts of the horrors they suffered as children, is simply beyond me.
Away from the subject matter to the presentation: I found the seamless narrative, jumping back and forth chronologically to be very well done. I would deduct 0.5 for the music, which at times I found too loud and a bit heavy-handed. I could not understand a word of what DeepThroat was saying, either.
In all, a gripping documentary. Kudos to Netflix and the whole production. Much heartfelt sympathy and strength to all the victims. -
mradarley-4766111 September 2017First of all let me say how brave it is of these men and women to openly discuss the horrendous abuse they suffered at the hands of people they should have been able to trust.
The problem is it is a tough watch at times and let's be fair we all watch these documentaries hoping for justice and if not we want to be riveted episode to episode. For me this falls short in that department in the end it became a slog to get through all the episodes. Compared to docs like the jinx this is not in the same league as far as documentary making goes.
That been said the people who appear speak openly and engage us to feel so much emotion towards there awful suffering and how they've managed to forge lives whilst the evil bast*rds are not only free but within the Catholic church!!
Be prepared though we won't ever know what happened to sister Kathy which I have to say although the central story does get lost amongst the other stories of historic abuse. The only thing I'm sure of is that if there is a heaven Joseph Maskell won't be there. May he rot in peace. -
The Keepers is a fascinating, engaging, and extremely well made documentary series, that is also extremely flawed.
Apart from a little bit of unnecessary padding in places, a little bit of narrative confusion (at times it is a documentary about the murder of Sister Cathy, at other times it is about clerical sexual abuse), and some moments of corny reality TV style set ups, the flaws in this show doesn't lie in it's technical aspects, but rather in the wild conjecture and the lack of accuracy and balance.
For example, the documentary claims that recovered memories are now a accepted and regular feature of modern psychology - however the exact opposite is true, they are still highly controversial and the majority consensus in psychology is that they are extremely problematic.
Why this point is so important is that the entire premise of this series - that Sister Cathy was murdered by (or under the orders of) Father Maskell - hinges entirely on a recovered memory from just one adult female victim of sexual abuse. The way this memory is presented in the series also raises serious questions (or, at least, it should have, but wasn't, in this series) about its validity - the woman concerned says that she only experienced this memory for the first time AFTER a friend planted the seed in her mind about the crime while looking over an old school year book.
If this recovered memory lacks validity, then so does much of this series (which is probably why they were not accurate in the information they presented about recovered memories.)
There is also a lot of conjecture that is extremely speculative and extremely tenuous.
For example - even if their were maggots found on the corpse of Sister Cathy (a major point of contention in the series) that doesn't prove that the recovered memory was true, and it also raises a serious question about why a murderer would show someone a body - thus linking him directly to the crime - when the whole point of the murder was that it was a desperate attempt to try to hide his involvement in criminal activity.
Then there's the conjecture about the necklace - which, for all we know, was purchased, or stolen by Ed, and has nothing to do with Sister Cathy at all - but the series goes to extreme lengths to speculate a connection into existence (and the subsequent interview with an ageing Ed, in a clear state of mental ill health, seems exploitative.)
The other thing that I found really frustrating about the series was that, apart from some basic details in the very first episode, we are not told a lot about the important specifics of the crime, the evidence, the finding of the body, etc - but these are all really important aspects of this case that will have an important bearing on the theory being proposed by this series.
The series also failed to properly explore some rather glaring inconsistencies and questions in its own evidence.
For example - Koob makes a claim about his relationship with Sister Cathy (that she rejected his infatuation for her) that seems completely contradictory to later evidence about her writing a very intimate love letter to him. Then there's also the largely unexplored questions about his role in the crime - which detectives clearly considered to be major at the time.
Then there's the fact that two different uncles (from two different families) are supposed to have committed the crime - but it is clearly indicated that they never knew each other, and nor are they adequately connected to Father Maskell to make the primary claims of the series compelling.
Like I said, this is a fascinating series, and you have to admire the tenacity of the amateur investigators who continue to pursue the cause of trying to get justice for Sister Cathy, however at the end of the day, this feels like a highly speculative fishing expedition, where all sorts of allegations and theories, regardless of their validity, are being thrust out into the public arena in a very spectacular fashion.
The problem is that this ends up being a trial by media, and we all know how dangerous such an approach can be - both for innocent any parties who end up being wrongly tarnished, and also because they can place a successful criminal prosecution of any guilty party at risk.
My hope is that, despite all the flaws, this show leads to a successful closing of this case. -
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. -
Ionizing20 May 2017A 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. -
"All these other people suddenly started remembering things after a lot of media exposure, yet none of them have anything remotely factual to add in the end." You obviously did NOT watch the entire documentary. ONE person began remembering things, Jane Doe. She came forward, then she gave courage to more victims to come forward. None of the other victims had suppressed memories; unfortunately, they had been too afraid to come forward. And Jane Doe never claimed a cent. Did you listen to that part, too?
You do not realize "the times" and the authority that Catholic priests had in the community. We are talking late 1960's here. Imagine revealing you were sexually abused by priests and cops to a nun and the next day, that nun has disappeared? And a priest with a psychiatric degree that has an office at the school, a collection of guns, was chaplain to the police, who had a best friend who was a policeman and a brother(!) who was the police lieutenant...what the heck was the purpose of a priest being employed at an all-girls school? He became out of control and the Archdiocese of Baltimore kept covering it up, kept transferring from parish to parish...did you WATCH all of the documentary?
"One lady for example assumed her deceased husband surely must have been involved because allegedly he came home with blood on his shirt one night. She didn't have any reason other than that." Well, he wasn't going to his job. The bills were piling up. Where was he going? Why did he come home covered in blood on the exact night Sister Cathy went missing, a date coinciding with the day before their premature baby was due to be released from the hospital? There is a LOT more to it...his proximity to Sister Cathy's apartment complex, his assignments from Maskell to go out and "collect girls" plus his possible involvement in the disappearance murder of another girl. The filmmaker only had so much time to address it all. See http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2017/02/08/baltimore-nun-murder/ and additional interviews featured there. The husband literally "covered" his tracks by purchasing new tires. Or just google search and educate yourselves.
I am so SAD for all of these victims and so astonished at some of you IMDb.com reviewers' reactions to walk over the victims and assume they were doing this for money! Watch the documentary, all of the episodes; listen and learn. The police "allegedly" lost the proof in "the flood" (Hurricane Agnes). Give me a freaking break. Did you miss that part? Proof went missing! Sadly, most of the victims are dead, in mental institutions or on drugs, had abortions or raised the bastard children of "Fathers" Maskell and Magnus.
The filmmaker of this documentary was brilliant; he showed much compassionate and respect to some very brave women who are still fearful for their lives to this very day, just for speaking out. Revealing the corruption of the Archdiocese of Baltimore & the Baltimore City police, apparently fell on some deaf ears and blind eyes. -
Holy moly. What a wringer the makers of this documentary put us thru watching this.
We all know now that the Catholic Church has been for decades (centuries?) covering up and cleaning up after abusive, pedophile priests.
This is truly worth watching. I don't feel it is my place to decide on the veracity of the events these women (and men!) tell.
I think walking away from this every single person should have in their mind that in the future such events must not be allowed to happen. -
Like murder, sexual abuse should have no Statutes of limitations, and like the Holocaust, should never be forgotten.
The Keepers, is a brilliant spellbinding documentary and expose of the Catholic church, and in particular, the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The story centers around the abuse that both boys and girls of The Archbishop Keough High School suffered at the hands of Father A. Joseph Maskell, Father Mangus and "Brother" Bob in the late sixties and early 70's. From being raped, sodomized and having strangers, including Baltimore Police join in the abuse, this story leads to the murder of Sister Cathy Cesnick.
Follow the relentless search for the truth by "Jane Doe" and "Jane Roe" 30 years later to bring to justice those responsible. Over seven episodes, one becomes angrier and angrier and wonders how the Archdiocese of Baltimore can call themselves men of God when in truth they are pedophiles, rapists and don't deserve to wear the cloth of a Priest. When a successful dentist reports his abuse from over 30 years ago, he is asked by the head of the Archdiocese . "would you like a boat?" -
d_welland19 April 2019This could be brilliant, but once you're gripped into the story it diverts to other suspects and alternative narratives in an awkward way not intertwined with the flow of the story. You sit just wishing these to hurry up as they offer nothing to the story being told.
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misjules23 May 2017Fantastic documentary on sister Cathy and her murder. It tells the story of abuse and how the catholic church covered it up. The documentary tells the stories of girls who were abused by the priest's of their school and how the school, archdiocese and police covered it up and how they seek justice for the horrible crimes. Highly recommend it.
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sschaefer-7182224 May 2017First, this series is worth watching in its entirety. It has some compelling stories to tell, but it unsuccessfully tries to connect two stories that seemingly have nothing to do with each other. Towards the end of the series, the episodes rely less on facts, and more on sentiments without facts, which is a shame. Is it worth a watch? Definitely, but it is ultimately unsatisfying as it tries to do too much with two stories that it should have focused on separately.
The series is marketed as a true crime story of a beautiful and kind Catholic nun, named Sister Cathy, who disappears, and then is found to have been murdered. Interviews with her former students who are now in their late-60's show what a huge impact she had on them with her kindness and love for teaching. To tell this story could have taken 2-3 episodes.
The really compelling story is that of the evil perpetrated and orchestrated by a Catholic priest, Father Maskell, who rapes teen female students at the all-girls high school where he is dean and a counselor. The use of music, dark images of the school hallway, along with interviews of the teens-now-women was powerful, and enraging. This story could have been told in 4 episodes.
Unfortunately, the filmmakers try to connect both of these stories, which at first appears plausible, but then devolves into factless emotionalism and baseless speculation. In short, Sister Cathy had to be killed because she knew that Maskell was raping students at the school.
After telling the story of Father Maskell and his many victims, the series loses its focus, and jumps around from person-to-person who may have killed Sister Cathy as well as from one conspiracy in the cover up of her murder as well as covering up Maskell's crimes.
Interviews with a police chief is less convincing of a cover up than of the incompetence of two police departments, failed and delayed FOIA requests to the FBI are more about federal bureaucracy, and the interviews with Gerry Koob and family of creepy family members are interesting, but not believable.
It would have been good to have independent follow up on Eric Davidson who is creepy, and who was convicted of trying to pick up underage girls in the late-60's.
The last couple of episodes are running on fumes, and go back to the same well of the dark music and the same creepy picture of evil Maskell, to grasp at straws to connect the two murders.
At the end, the filmmakers leave the viewer with the incredible portrait of evil of Father Maskell and others, the hero survivors of Maskell, and no answers to who killed Sister Cathy. Who are the heroes? Sister Cathy, the women who are survivors, and those who keep working on the case. Who are the villains? Father Maskell and whoever cooperated with his evil. -
An outstanding, frightening and infuriating look into the abuses and cover up perpetrated by the Baltimore archdiocese, likely with the help of local police. This documentary belies the contention that Priests only preyed on boys. I understand the criticism of some reviewers who have suggested some additional editing needed to be done, but a story this important and profound deserves nothing less than 10 stars despite it's flaws. It hits all the main points hard and tells it's story well. For everyone who cares about the pain so many children have gone through because of the Catholic Church, please see this documentary.
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alexanderkooistra28 May 2017The whole series is very well made. Timing, music and stories are edited very nicely. This is not a clinical reconstruction of the murder(s) but rather a series of recollections of memories from several angles, mixed with factual data. I watched all episodes within a day, saddening stories and tragic story.... very powerful woman speaking and really making this documentary series. One thing I really mis and find weak about this series is the lack of attention for the second murder, the murder of Joyce Maleck. Two abductions within a couple of days with a lot of similarities.... beats me why you would focus in detail to every fact of one of those... and hardly mention the other.... At a certain point into the documentary it was bugging me that even the weakest links and testimonials are given time and attention and never again this second murder.
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balthier0317 June 2020First few episodes were exciting, revelations after revelations, until they stretched out with unnecessary scenes and details. Could've been a 5 episode Masterpiece wasted and lost its charm