Admirable film.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The filmmakers did their hardest to convey this true story as being of national importance, but their work dwindles by the end of this documentary and you realize that the entire episode in Leith, North Dakota was literally about nothing at all.This is a documentary about two nearly impoverished white supremacists who pay a couple hundred bucks to buy up parcels of land in some backwater North Dakota town that nobody cares about. That's all this documentary is about, no joke.As the two white supremacists move into town some of the townsfolk find out who they are, thanks to media coverage, and then begins a campaign of back & forth harassment between the white supremacists and some of the townspeople.Eventually the white supremacists are arrested on trumped up charges that are later reduced, but amazingly none of the townspeople are arrested for their harassing activities toward the white supremacists (some of which are captured on video in the documentary).By the end of this documentary, you're left with a feeling of disdain for both the white supremacists and the townsfolk. You also realize that you would never want to live in North Dakota! Lastly, you realize that this documentary was almost entirely trivial and pointless, has absolutely ZERO national impact or relevance, and going by the reviews and online footprint, almost nobody saw this documentary! Btw, as a resident in a small southern town, I've lived near quite a few white supremacists. My attitude was always different strokes for different folks. I won't judge them if they don't judge me, etc. That seems to have worked well for me for nearly three decades.

The people that made "Welcome to Leith" did a nice job of presenting a reasonably well balanced and interesting story. While they obviously didn't like the white supremacists featured in the film, they also were sure to present the complete story...warts and all.The town of Leith is extremely tiny and located in the Dakotas. When a crazed white supremacist arrives there and starts buying up property, folks start getting concerned. When he then starts inviting in other like-minded jerks, the town starts to react...strongly. What follows is a film that consists of showing the tiny town's efforts to get rid of the supremacists and prevent them from taking over Leith. Unfortunately, when the neo-Nazis actually do something that might be illegal, some of the townsfolks manage to undo the state's case by talking out of turn...and some of these people later blame the state for the case falling apart. However, the way I saw the film I don't believe the authorities LEGALLY had much more they could do about the supremacists...and the film leaves everything in limbo. This could REALLY benefit from a follow-up to know what subsequently occurred.As I mentioned, the people who made the film were great--they were very thorough and did a wonderful job in presenting both sides. It's not 100% satisfying to watch, however, for two reasons. First, in real life things often DON'T work out perfectly...as the film illustrates. And, Second, despite 99.9% of the viewers wanting to see these neo-Nazis die or go to prison forever, legally this wasn't possible due to Constitutionally guaranteed rights...even the right to be an evil, nasty, hateful individual! To me this isn't a bad thing...everyone deserves protection--whether or not they are nice people...though I am sure many will be angered by this. Despite its shortcomings, it does make for an interesting documentary as well as a great civics lesson.

When I saw the trailer, the reviews, the promos, etc. they really had me hooked with lines like, "Gripping!", "Better than any fiction story", "A horror film come to life", "A town divided by hate", etc. I thought, "Wow. This seems like something I want to see. The town seems small. I'm guessing a few hundred people live there." But partway through the movie I learned the town only has around 20 people and my interest in it sank. I watched the movie with bored eyes as I wanted to finish it but couldn't get over my resentment at being mislead.The filmmakers and the reviewers make this seem like some harrowing story. But, in reality, nobody cares about some white supremacist setting up shop on a few acres of dirt with 24 people in North Dakota. Not even North Dakota people care about this. A place inhabited by 24 people isn't even a town. I'd call that merely a stretch of dirt with 24 people on it. Doesn't a town need at least 100 people? I may sound like a snob, but come on, does anyone really care if some white supremacist sets up shop in a place with two dozen people? If it was more than 100, I'd be interested. But a place with 24 people? Who cares? If you read about it in the newspaper, you'd think, "The New York Times is running an article about some deranged white supremacist setting up shop in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota amongst a so-called town of 24 people in the hopes of creating some booming all-white metropolis? Who cares? Is this news worthy? Let those supremacists set up shop up there. There are no women there. No jobs. Few other white supremacists are gonna make an effort to live there. If they don't freeze their balls off and return to the place they original came from, they'll die of boredom because there's nothing fun to do out there. I have better things to do than care about what happens to some pile of dirt in North Dakota. I'm gonna go watch paint dry."Am I lying when I say that's what people would think if this movie was a news article? The New Yorkers who made this documentary knew people would think this if they read it in an article. So in order to make this boring story interesting, they had to over blow the hype to the extreme. All this hype about how it's fascinating and some sort of interesting story about today's America is garbage. Don't believe the hype. This documentary is nothing more than these bored hipsters' trying their hardest to break into the film industry.

Welcome to Leith was well-received at its showing at Austin's SXSW Film Festival. The film documents the peculiar events that occurred in 2013-2014 when a nationally-known white supremacist Craig Cobb moves to tiny Leith, North Dakota (population: 24) with a plan to buy up land and take over city government and make it into some sort of center of white supremacy. Once alerted by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) the ordinary town folks mobilize to fight back and save their town from Cobb's nefarious plan.The odd part of the story is that Cobb's plan seems to be legal. (When he and his partner are finally arrested they almost seem to have been provoked.) There is nothing illegal about buying land and moving into a town. And the first amendment allows him to express his beliefs and fly his Nazi flags no matter how evil and offensive those beliefs may be. The town residents actually seemed to be making excuses to get rid of him such as citing him for not having running water and a sewage system on his property. Fundamentally, the film asks the question is democracy about the community making decisions by the will of the majority or is there a basic set of minimum beliefs about human equality that are necessary prerequisites to participate in democratic society? The majority of the town seemed to decide – really quite reasonably - that Cobb's noxious beliefs were so anti-egalitarian that they didn't want him and his cronies to live in their town. They are in some sense intolerant of his intolerant beliefs, but one can hardly blame them.Welcome to Leith is beautifully filmed and the filmmakers maintain an impressive level of objectivity about their offensive subject. They let his evil beliefs discredit themselves rather than trying to paint Cobb as anything more than the pathetic nasty creature that he is. The townspeople come off as genuine and human. Perhaps it is a positive sign that this sort of racism is unacceptable even in one of the smallest most isolated corners of the United States. I hope that Welcome to Leith gets widely distributed so that many more people can enjoy this powerful film.