the audience applauded

Thanks for the memories!

Sick Product of a Sick System

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Based on the controversial book by Michael Lesy, WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP was originally shown on British TV as part of BBC's excellent ARENA series. ARENA often showcased excellent documentaries... including one about Bukowski, amongst others. It's since been replaced by STORYVILLE, which does the same great job. It buys in worldwide documentaries and gives them a healthy TV audience... WRESTLING WITH SHADOWS, THE STORY OF ANVIL and many more. Britain can be very proud of its dedication to interesting documentaries. For those who don't know the book, WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP is a collection of real-life photographs and newspaper reports from late 19th Century Wisconsin... particularly a town called "Black River Falls". The documentary begins and ends with the chief news writer (an Englishman called Frank Cooper) gushing: "We can say - honestly - that we know of few states or cities which offer the advantages as those offered by Wisconsin and Black River Falls. Our city was founded in 1854, and soon attracted industrious settlers from Norway, Germany, and other countries of the European continent.... Our site is not only picturesque but it also boasts a fertile countryside that grows everything known to this climate, in abundance.... When considering all of these advantages, it is safe to assume that nowhere in the length and breadth of this continent of ours can be found a more desirable residence than Black River Falls." This sets up the sucker punch of the movie. Because - as is still the case with modern news - despair is the most newsworthy emotion. The news reports - and the documentary - fixate on death, suicide and psychosis. There are a few funny notes - including a nice little piece on runaway lovers getting married - but it's largely a downbeat ride. WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP annoyed a lot of folks when it originally came out in the 1970s, due to its negative vibe. They felt it corrupted the past of Wisconsin, which already is often portrayed as desolate and loopy because of their harsh winters... and because both Ed Gein and Jeffrey Dahmer came from there. The movie lays on the comparison between the past/present Wisconsin stronger than the book. With little pieces of voiceovers of people in asylums to a few cutaways to modern Wisconsin life. The director consciously tries to show the relevance of these old stories to modern life. That touch adds extra weight to the original book and works beautifully. I loved the fact that the stories from the past are so similar to the stories now. For all the bleating about the past being better than today, the same problems exist. Poverty driving people insane. Teenage kids out of control. People committing suicide over unrequited love. A continuing thread through WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP is Mary Sweeny who - after a bash of the head - goes around smashing windows because it makes her feel better. To calm her nerves beforehand, she does cocaine (which was legal back then). So many people forget the truth of their childhood, and the further history goes back the more romanticised it becomes. WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP does a spectacular job of exposing that myth. For all the modern complaints on drunkenness and binge drinking, 18th Century London (and Gin Lane) was much worse. If you think drugs are bad now, in 19th Century Britain, babies were given opium sticks (called "laudanum") to suck on and keep quiet. In the early Victorian era, kids of 6 or 7 were regularly at work in factories. In iron mines, the average lifespan of workers was 27. For all those who complain about the present, the truth is a different story. Aside from the historical insight of WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP, it's been put together very well. The incredibly powerful photos from the book (by Charles Van Schaik) are included, and the narration of the news reports has been pared down to the most eye-catching stories. British director James Marsh (from MAN ON WIRE) is at the helm, and there's a beautiful attention to detail to WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP. From the beaten-up costumes, to simpler aspects such as the rootsy music and the beautiful, creepy lighting. Apparently this was a three-year labour of love for Marsh, and it shows. It creates as dynamic a movie as you can get from photos, voiceovers and crime-scene reconstructions. WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP really hit a good note with me, and it should with you too. It's the information - and the great photos - that drive it, but it's done with such skill that it's also entertaining and addictive viewing.

This is a truly amazing piece of work. Creepy and bizarre yet always humane. Firstly, yes it is a documentary. But a documentary does not have to be some guy following his subject with a camera. The verity form of documentary film-making is a great and valid one but it is not right for every subject and it is not the only documentary form. Marsh's film is a hybrid between documentary and fiction film-making. He uses dramatic reconstructions skillfully, inter cutting with contemporary, reportage material. The film is a series of snapshots, reports of bizarre events, murders, suicides and strange customs taken from contemporaneous newspaper reports of the time. It aims to provide an alternative view of an area's history by looking beneath the surface at the strange footnotes of history which somehow frequently manage to get lost in the history books. And it is absolutely stunning to look at. The dramatic reconstructions are shot in dreamlike black and white, filmed to mirror the technical conventions of the time. The contemporary footage is similarly beautiful - a filmed photo story of the town today. The film is stunning enough on its own terms but when you consider that they shot all this on a low, TV documentary budget it becomes awe-inspiring. As to the dramatic structure, the film makes it quite clear at the beginning that the stories took place between 1890 and 1900. The use of the five chapters themed by the seasons (it, tellingly, begins and ends in Winter) is intended to link the stories thematically and by subject matter. It is like the ages of man - the early stories involve children, then adolescents, then adults, then old people, etc... True, the blurb on the DVD box is slightly misleading - it suggests that the film will unravel the mystery of why all these things happened in this one town and its surrounding areas. That is not Marsh's fault and his film should not be criticised for not delivering what it never intended to. It is instead a record of some truly strange happenings. Why did they happen? Why does weird stuff continue to happen? In his highly enlightening commentary Marsh explains that he was interested in drawing parallels between then and now and I think his film exceeds in doing this brilliantly. It is a great idea, to examine life by looking at the ways in which we die. Wisconsin Death Trip is a sad, strange, beautiful, disturbing and blackly comic little masterpiece and I urge you to check it out.

Directed by James Marsh, 'Wisconsin Death Trip' chronicles a period of Wisconsin history in which there were an inordinate amount of murders, commitments to the mental asylum and general 'colorful' doings. While there are some photographs from the time period used, the lion's share of this film utilizes footage akin to dramatic recreations. The first time I saw the film 'Wisconsin Death Trip', I believe that I was more taken with the fact that it was something unusual, and not a 'regular' documentary, and I let the gross lack of substance be overridden by the obscure subject matter. After seeing it now for the second time almost two years later, I still feel that the subject matter is compelling, but I remembered more clearly that I left the film the first time with a sense of emptiness and more questions than I normally feel comfortable with after sitting through 76 minutes of film. There are many shortcomings and manipulation of facts in this film. The narration (by Ian Holm) tells us that the focus is on Black River Falls, a very small town in northern Wisconsin. Yet, many of the goings-on didn't take place remotely near Black River Falls. There are stories of murder and mayhem in Kenosha, for example – Kenosha being a good three and half hours (minimum) by the interstate from Black River Falls. Also confusing is both the claim that the events described took place over a nine year period, yet the presentation leads us to believe that they actually took place in the course of a year. Not entirely important, unless one is trying to establish the magnitude of these events; obviously the impact is much larger when presented in one-ninth the time they actually took place. And in regard to the events in question, they, coupled with some very striking and creepy photographs, provide some very intriguing and creepy insight. Unfortunately, the filmmaker did not provide us with any kind of outlet as to why these events were occurring when they hadn't before, nor does he give us a lot of background for the audience to hypothesize for him. While the subject matter is very interesting, 'Wisconsin Death Trip' falls far short of what it could have been. There is a book of the same title by Michael Lesy which perhaps explores some of the issues which don't get explained in the film, but unfortunately, when a film is presented as a documentary, the onus should not be on the audience to do the research that should have been included in the first place. This is a real niche film that is probably going to appeal most to Wisconsin historians, but as someone who both lives in the state and is extremely interested in both Wisconsin history and lore, I was not remotely impressed. 4/10Shelly

I saw WDT when it was first screened by the BBC, but had been looking forward to it ever since it arrived on the festival circuit. Word of mouth suggested it was dark, unusual and innovative - and, for once, word of mouth was right.Rarely have I seen stronger evidence that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. The stories here are fascinating - twisted tales of everyday folk who would happily fit into any Stephen King novel.And the style of the film is just as remarkable. Beautiful monochrome cinematography and a deadpan voice-over from Ian Holm reflect the macabre lunacy of Black River Falls. Mesmerising and unforgettable.