User reviews

Wisconsin death trip is not really a film that can be accused of being "entertaining." entertainment implies that you will sit their gripped by the story and enthralled by the narrative, and this can be applied to most documentaries, such as Bowling for Columbine or Spellbound.

However, Wisconsin death trip is not most documentaries. there is no narrative or story. instead, we are given a litany of deaths and events in the life of a small town in Wisconsin, USA. obviously, this is not going to be the happiest of films.

filmed in a soft black and white, with the exception of some shots of the town in modern times, we are given an insight into the strange events and deaths in the - whose name I forget ^_^;; - over the course of four different seasons.

for some reason, I found this film to be strangely compelling. whilst not having a huge running time, it gave me a morbid curiosity that kept me watching. strangely enough, you do start wanting to see what could possibly happen next in this small town.

In conclusion, whilst it is a slow-paced film, it can be compelling if you let it, and by the end you're wondering how many strange deaths one area can actually suffer.

7/10.

Some seem to have missed the whole point of this engrossing documentary. I wouldn't normally regard myself as a documentary person but this film is stylistically excellent using period photographs and specially shot black and white footage mixed in with colour shots of the town of Black River Falls (which the movie examines at the turn of the century) as it is now. To put it bluntly, and I don't feel I'm spoiling anything by saying this, the population is suffering from insanity ranging from the homicidal to the simply inexplicable. Ian Holm provides a haunting narration culled entirely from the local newspaper of the day and this is interspersed with excerpts from the records of the local asylum to which many of the towns inhabitants are committed.

The story is one of collapse as harsh victorian values prove incapable of dealing with the economic and social conditions the town is experiencing. The towns inhabitants are simply incapable of dealing with their circumstances. Suicide and mania are the results.

An excellent film let down almost not at all by the slightly banal comparisons made between the town in its victorian 'glory' and its modern status as a crime capital which falls a little flat but is not without interest. Proof of the effect of environment on psychology.

'Nowhere in this great continent of ours can be found a more desirable residence.' This is a pitch for the small town of Black River Falls, Wisconsin. If by any chance you've already accepted this seemingly ordinarily little exaggeration as the truth, then its time you saw a melancholic little documentary called Wisconsin Death Trip.

This is a film which details the events that occurred in Black River Falls during the 1890s and is the director James Marsh's take on the 1970s literary cult classic of the same name, written by Michael Lesy. It seems that the whole town was besieged by fits of suicide, murder, lunacy and several inexplicable and bizarre events that could have been plucked cleanly from an Edward Gory poem. The grim and dark character of this strange little town and its inhabitants are communicated through photographs taken at the time and newspaper reports. The photos are connected to starkly beautiful black and white recreations of the odd goings-on of Black River Falls. Ian Holm narrates the film in a haunting and sometimes blackly comic manner, and a few records from the local insane asylum are whispered disturbingly, telling us about the many inhabitants who were committed there. The recreations are shot with dazzling fluidity, all are stunning to watch and every single one shocks or horrifies to an enthralling degree.

Like Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream, this twisted tale takes place over several seasons and the other-worldly events just keep on happening; from a farmer who blew his own head off with dynamite to a 63 year old-14 year old paedophilliac marriage, they seem never-ending as the depressing Wisconsin Winter looms over the horizon. There are certain characters who keep reappearing throughout the film such as the 13 year old who shot an old man for fun and then participated in a western style chase and gun fight with a posse, and the has-been opera singer, Pauline L'Allemand, who moved to Black River Falls and slowly went mad, hearing voices from the spirit world and ended up in the Mendota Asylum for the Insane.

It is the morbid fascination that resides in some of us which makes us want to watch this to the end, to see just how tantalizingly strange the events in this town can get. The macabre style is pulled off with perfection; it is often grisly and melancholic to watch and yet I was fascinated by it and soaked up every moment. Wisconsin Death Trip fails, however in trying to convince us that Black River Falls hasn't changed since the 1890s. Its attempts (in colour, rather than black and white like the rest of the film), are rather forced and unsatisfying. But the blank, placid faces of the old people of the modern day town are certainly reminiscent of the photos taken back at the end of the 19th century. Perhaps the sheer number of the events at the time makes the film a little unbelievable, but it is the photos which remind us that these events actually took place and aid in bringing home the Gothic and demented atmosphere of the whole tragic tale.

The truth is: I was horrified and engrossed in the story of this freakish town and the maniacs who resided there. Then, after thinking about it, I realized that the crimes of passion, suicides and gun violence of our so-called 'modern society' were happening over a century ago. I believe that this is one of the most significant points James Marsh was trying to put across.

However, there are still some out and out undeniably weird happenings that took place in Black River Falls which would leave us utterly aghast if we saw them in the present day. When viewing, be sure to look out for the Polish girl who set fire to numerous buildings because she was 'lonely and homesick and needed some excitement.' and especially Mary Sweeney, with her window smashing antics.

Unapologetically dark. Unashamedly morbid and moody. This documentary offers an alternative, more realistic, depiction of American life at the turn of the twentieth century. Mundane elements of work, love, marriage, and simple existence in the American North are swept up in an undercurrent of darkness that reminds the viewer that history is not all presidents, education, and industry. This documentary offers both sides of life, not just the common, brightly lit portion that is outlined in popular media and historical documents. This is all not to say, however, that the film is oppressive or grotesque: accounts of insanity, murder, and tragedy are intermixed with elements of black humor and sarcasm. Well worth the hour-and-a-half running time.

"Wisconsin Death Trip" Is a compilation of newspaper accounts from the Black River Falls area in the 1890s. The film delivers the facts along with glorious black and white photographs. Apparrently at the time, life had little value, and depression ran rampant. A nice assortment of calamities are covered including, irrational behavior (window smashing), suicides, dementia, a Diptheria epidemic, superstitions, murder, witchcraft, spirits, and lots of other depressing matters. Many perpetrators of these calamitous acts are dealt with by simply locking them away in the local insane asylum. The movie is loosely structured around crimes committed during the the four seasons. Though somewhat redundant, "Wisconsin death Trip" is also frequently fascinating. - MERK

Although this is a documentary (taken from a book of the same title that was quite popular in the '70s), it doesn't feel like one. It doesn't feel like a movie either, so I don't know what you'd call it. But one thing I can say is that it is morbidly fascinating.

It is narrated by Ian Holmes, the only recognizable name associated with the film, reading news excerpts from a small, northern Wisconsin town's newspaper from the late 1800s. The occurrences are sometimes funny, often tragic, and unsettlingly bizarre. You have to remember that there was a very small population in the area at that time (the area is still not heavily populated), so the number of odd goings-on is curious. These occurrences have even more impact because they are juxtaposed with the very wholesome image that Wisconsin has always possessed (it seems whenever a movie wants to present wholesomeness, they set it in Wisconsin) as well as the beautiful vocabulary and syntax used in written documentation at that time. The documentary is also British, which ads another element to it--somehow I think they find it even more fascinating and that comes through in the presentation.

So, Ian Holmes reads the articles and we are shown photos from the period (sometimes they are the real people being discussed, but not always) and re-enactments of the crimes (they are mostly crimes), mishaps, or misfortunes. Infrequently, current-day footage is used, which I have read as a criticism, but which I think is misguided (see below).

The strongest thing I came away with from this documentary is that human nature is consistent, no matter what the era. The crimes and occurrences committed in and around this small Wisconsin town in the late 1800s are the same crimes that are being committed everywhere today. There are classic obsession crimes (i.e., a man asked a woman to marry him, she said no, he went to her house and shot her and then himself), classic sociopathic crimes, classic abuse cases, etc. I think the modern-day footage helps to bring this message home. But, there are also some

REALLY kooky things too, which are a blast. Look for the teacher who likes to travel by train. . . .

See this film if you think the world is going to pot; you'll realise its always been there.

Not in the traditional documentary format, Wisconsin Death Trip is disturbingly beautiful. The first thing that is noticeable about the film is its intensely visual direction in an extremely eye pleasing black and white art house style backed up with Ian Holm's competent narration (another narrator is used in confusing whisper to tell of those sectioned at the mental asylum, something of which doesn't really make any sense of have any meaning to it but is a nice difference in direction). As a documentary, the film just documents facts. Focusing on strange stories from a small Wisconsin town (Black River City) in the 1890's when (unexplainably) the people started to randomly commit crime after crime in horrific fashion through anarchy, murder, arson, paedophilia and other deranged acts (including a humorous tale of a cocaine addict who persistently smashed local windows for now reason.) Wisconsin Death Trip has these moments of humour, but by no way stretch of the imagination is it a pleasing narrative. Harrowing accounts of acts of violence from the local journalist about the occupiers of the small city and its surroundings are reinacted for the screen in a dry, depressing surrealism. In narrating article after article of random stories of suicide, murder etc… the Direction shows actors play out these events in a wonderfully designed time of old in America taking us throughout the seasons of the year in subtly effective montages of newspaper being printed. Contrasted to this is a modern perception of the same town, displaying school children in a playground happily getting on with life. The elderly living contently at a home and other accounts and recollections of stories they had heard from rumour about the history of Black River City and Wisconsin. However, the film never tries to even start to understand what happened in that area for everyone to commit these heinous crimes in the 1890's, nor does it seem to hold this as a relevant part tot the story, it merely documents the events that took place with linear narration and hand in hand visual aids that were very cinematic. It differs greatly to traditional documentaries in this sense by not following any one particular story, but deciding to document what had already happened and disturbingly, this film was made for television, something of which is interesting to contemplate how it was marketed. The film may be looked upon as having no real meaning and would bore audiences who seek an answer, but they would be a hard audience not to be drawn into the film by its wonderful cinematography and appealing narrative.

If you haven't read Wisconsin Death Trip, the remarkable photo document written and assembled by Michael Lesy, you may enjoy this sombre, Bergmanesque take on the travails of a small Midwestern town at the turn of the century. Marsh makes a halfhearted attempt to compare it to the same town in contemporary times, but the meat of the film is a juxtaposition of stills from Lesy's book with some frequently beautiful and well shot live action 'recreations'. If you know the book, seeing this film really isn't necessary.

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. 4/10

Shelly

This gripping documentary looks at events, many of them dealing with homicide, suicide, and mental illness, in the life of the town of Black River Falls, Wisconsin, during the nineteenth century.

If you think we are presently living in an unprecedentedly violent age, it will be enlightening to see the number of husbands who shot wives, wives who shot husbands, lovers who shot each other, parents who killed children, and children who killed whomever, in this sleepy midwestern town, filled with hard-working citizens of German and Norwegian descent.

Added into the mix is a remarkable number of mentally ill or drug-addicted people, notably Mary Sweeney, the "Wisconsin Window-Smasher," who destroyed tens of thousands of dollars worth of windows across the state, while taking cocaine to "steady her nerves."

The film is a combination of still photographs from the era and black-and-white set-piece recreations of the incidents, narrated beautifully by Ian Holm. The viewer should be warned, however, that it is not until the very last frame of the credits that we learn that not all the photographs shown necessarily correspond to the people in the incidents described.

A great work of social history, exploring a side of life many people prefer to ignore.

I listened to an excellent interview of this film's producers upon its release and was really expecting great things (I grew up in Wisconsin in the mid '60s/early '70s and our Boy Scout Troop had many weekend outings in the Black River Falls area, where this film takes place).

Terrific "real life" stories about the mysterious happenings and murders in and around this town are re~enacted in Errol Morris fashion, but the film never finds Morris' focus ~ instead, it makes a mish-mash of all of the interesting tales.

After 30 minutes you've witnessed so many deaths and oddities in no order whatsoever, that if you're a smart viewer you begin to ask yourself "What is this film really trying to say?"...

After 5 more minutes, the filmmakers have re~covered evey square inch of what the initial half~hour presented.

Should have been better.

Far better.

This rare peek into what life was really like in the 19th century American Midwest was almost shocking the first time I viewed it twenty years ago, but after several viewings and well into adulthood I genuinely appreciate the perspective Wisconsin Death Trip gave me.

Though it sounds like a 90s alternative rock band, this documentary features real photographs and news clippings from a small town where people frequently got sick and died at young ages, and even were murdered or committed suicide. One of the most intriguing characters is a woman who seems much more modern than her time period would allow traipses around town doing cocaine and causing mayhem, which provides comic relief to the heaviness of the subject matter and Victorian-style photographs of corpses.

People have always been people, life was not ideal when people lived as rugged individualists, and in fact before vaccines and modern medicines an overwhelming number of children died before ever reaching adulthood. This documentary should be required viewing for any anti-vaxxer in my opinion.

I want to give it a 10 because of how much it shook me, but while the narrator's monologue is critical to giving the film cohesion, his voice and diction are slightly irritating to me.

I first heard of the book this film is based on in 1977 (eeeps!) when I was studying American Literature. My prof recommended it when we were doing Hawthorne, I think.

Despite finding the idea fascinating, when I had the chance to buy the book a couple of years later, I freaked out when browsing it, and tossed it like a hot potato. To what became my eternal regret.

The film beautifully fills in the gaps of what small town American was like at the turn between the 19th and 20th century, a period which when I was growing up in NY (graduating class of '72) been idealized, as a simpler, cleaner, purer and happier time.

I found this documentary to be pointless and useless. The only part I enjoyed about this film was the "flashbacks" to current times in Black River Falls, WI because it is my hometown. Even though the film is about WI's history and Black River Falls, I found it to be boring and uninformative. Watching the film made me feel as if I were insane because I am from BRF. The historical viewpoint was interesting, but it seemed as if the film was saying that WI breeds insanity. I think living in a place with a very small population and little to do would drive me crazy as well. I couldn't find much of a point in the film either.

This is a fascinating documentary of sorts, showing the darker side of life in a small Wisconsin town in the 19th century. I called it "documentary of sorts", because its aim is not to give an accurate reflection of how life (and death) was like back then - it does not take a neutral stance. If it has a (political) aim then it is to disillusion, to expose people rambling about the good old days to something distinctively less romantic and depressing. But it probably has no political aim, if we look closely. It is deliberately morbid and revels in a kind of story-telling we normally only encounter in the context of war documentaries, and which takes us by surprise. On this level it is truly gripping and fascinating.

As a criticism, I would say that the film is perhaps a little too pleased with the misfortunes it reports about. Despite telling many individual stories the film always keeps a secure emotional distance from its characters. Ill fate awaits them in the same way it awaits wildebeests in wildlife documentaries.

If you make it halfway through this disturbing, fragmented barrage of glorified carnage, then you have to question your own sensitivities and lack of respect for the time in your life. Once you realize that this movie is going nowhere and has no point worthy of it's non stop ghastly images, it's time to stop honoring it's creator and find the off button! If the visuals don't drive you mad, the continuous drilling of your brain by the music score certainly will. Don't assume that this is a documentary worth watching. It is about as mature as the insane murderous 14 year old boy that it depicts. Worth zero stars. Please don't waste five minutes of your time.

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.

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.

Based on Michael Lesey's 1973 book of the same name, "Wisconsin Death Trip" dramatizes a series of gruesome and strange events that occurred in northern Wisconsin in the late-19th century: Murders, suicides, arsons, and a number of other odd (and often violent) transgressions.

This under-seen docudrama is, visually speaking, a considerable accomplishment. Lesey's book features historical photographs along with actual newspaper clippings detailing all of the odd occurrences in the region, and this film version also utilizes some of those photographs, but the black-and-white reenactments of them are stunning and expressionistic, resembling a cross between the photography of Diane Arbus and the films of Carl Dreyer. The footage has a surreal quality that traps the viewer in a dreamlike haze.

Narratively speaking, "Wisconsin Death Trip" does not possess much of a story per se, as its numerous vignettes splash across the screen in the same random nature as the events actually occurred--however, there are some throughline stories that are woven from the beginning through the end, in particular that of a cocaine-addicted schoolteacher with a fixation for breaking windows throughout the area, and another regarding an eccentric opera singer who arrives in town and may or may not be an imposter. Interspersed are capsulated tales of gruesome murders, suicides, religious delusions, disease, and mental illness, each narrated by James Marsh.

The film is bolstered by a baroque musical score that helps render the reenactments in a manner that is highly dramatic, unnerving, and gorgeous by turns. While some may find the film as a whole unsatisfying due to its splintered nature, the stories contained in it are very human, and demonstrative of the fact that our idea of the "good old days" is more or less a romanticized fantasy of the past. 9/10.

with a name like "Wisconsin Death Trip", and a premise of a small turn of the century town plagued by murder, arson, suicide, and insanity, you'd think that this would turn out to be a pretty interesting flick. At least, I did. Boy was I wrong. This plodding series of dry, dull newspaper clippings, narrated by Ian Holm (even having a good actor associated with this can't redeem it), has got to be the most tedious hour and a half of film since the old filmstrips we used to see in grade school. The only thing missing is the loud BEEP in the narrative between frames, letting the teacher know it was time to turn the film. Those beeps would have actually been welcome here as something to keep the audience awake. There is no plot, no point, and no emotional connection to anything going on. All it is is Ian Holm reading 100 year old newspaper clippings that say things like "Mary Brown threw a brick through several windows today." or "Farmer John decided to kill himself today by laying down on a stick of dynamite and lighting the fuse". These dull narratives are accompanied by old photographs or poorly-staged re-enactments shot in black and white film. There is no attempt to present the subject matter in any kind of compelling or coherent format. There is nothing entertaining, enlightening, or even historically valuable about this film. All it confirms is that people a hundred years ago did as many insane or inexplicable things as people do today. Big deal. That certainly doesn't qualify it as any great insight into the human condition.

I have just had the privilege of seeing this breathtakingly beautiful film at the Fantasia Fantasy film festival.

As a first independant feature, it ranks way up there with Eraserhead, as one of the most stunning debut of all time.

Every shot in this film is framable, and the overall impact of such an onslaught of creativity leaves one speechless.

Thank you James Marsh for this wonderful gift to cinema.

This movie takes an interestingly morbid look at a poor >Wisconsin town in the late 1800's. Although i suppose some might >find it interesting, and the cinematography is quite provoking, >the movie itself is rather tasteless. It is not only depressing, >but also not the least bit enlightening. If you are interested >in watching stories about death, murders, asylums and the like, >then go ahead and see it. However, if you are like the vast >majority of people in the world who do not wish to pay to get >depressed and disgusted, then don't bother seeing thi