Висконсин: Путешествие к смерти (1999) watch online HD

It is easy to be dazzled by 'Wisconsin Death Trip''s shimmering beauty. It is unlikely that you will see a more beautiful film all year - the sharp monochrome which creates an eerie dream out of history; the breathtaking fluidity of the camera, including some stunning, Angelopolous-like sequence shots; the extraordinary compositions that at once mummifies the subjects, traps them in their time like the still photographs the film is based on, and allows them to burst shockingly free from it. For its brief running time, there is not one ugly or inept sequence, and many in which you will gasp 'wow'. This was made for TELEVISION?! Needless to say, there is nothing like it in the cinema right now.

But is all this gorgeousness appropriate to the subject matter, the life and times of a small Wisconsin town, Black River Falls, in the 1890s, only 40 years old, deeply religious, composed of different races, with no troubles from the Indians, that in one decade seemed to burst into a frenzy of febrile anarchy, spewing out random murders, diseases, economic depressions, suicides, infanticides, paedophiliac marriages, persistant window-breakers, faded opera singers and, especially lunatics.

The film comprises a series of articles written by the town's English newspaper editor, divided into the four seasons. The stories are an unrelenting catalogue of collective insanity and horror, a complete breakdown of social order - the only time a sheriff is mentioned he is leading a posse hunting a young boy. Interspersed with the sensationalism are reports of the odd attempts at civic propriety, temprance meetings, church warnings against promiscuity etc., but these attempts at social control are tainted by the surrounding madness, and sound as beserk in their optimism as Canute or Quixote.

This is quiet American town life as Surrealist nightmare, a real-life David Lynch, a topsy-turvy inversion of what we expect from such communities. It's not like this is some kind of metaphor for what was going underneath repressive propriety - THIS REALLY HAPPENED. Why? There are a number of tacit answers - the economic failure of the American dream resulting in psychological despair (the first case of insanity is an unemployed suicide); the failure of the American melting-pot ideal, the different nationalities divided, unable to assimilate into Americans, their social rupture displaced into psychic rupture; the end of the frontier myth, the idea that there are no more Western open spaces to conquer, a feeling of being hemmed in, confined, hence, perhaps all the lunatic asylum inmates; the supernatural, God, nature - many townsfolk hear voices, fear witchcraft, and there are many shots of nature, piercing sunlight disrupting the calm, speeding, shadowy clouds, that seem pathologised.

The problem with the film is its ahistoricism. The events, like the town itself, exist in a vacuum, an aberration. Every story seems connected with some kind of tragedy or fear, but surely the editor's paper was not filled with this stuff all the time on every page; people would surely notice something was seriously wrong. The inexorable horrors become so profuse, so excessive, that they become comic, not because it is too much to bear, but because it seems so implausible. The filmmakers seem to think so too, and the stylised recreations take on a comic element. The film is least successful when it attempts to connect the events of the 1890s with our own fin de siecle - modern day Black River Falls, with its mad old ladies singing Star Spangled Banner, can only seem insane contiguous with its ancestors' dementia, and, in case we miss the point, the slow tracks give an ominous, oneiric feel. As with today, 1890s children with guns go on killing sprees; there are problems with drugs, authority, aimless youth, dysfunctional families etc. The madness never ends.

The stories, filtered through the consistent sensibility of the editor, are told in terse, literal, seemingly objective language. But the editor is both male and English-Protestant - he can't help informing his plain words with ideology. His reaction to aberrant women, for example, is typical of the times. They are not conscious rebels against a repressive society, they are invariably hysterical and mad. What is remarkable, though, is how the madness transcends gender, class, age, ethnic boundaries, producing a monstrous parody of the melting-pot ideal, a nation connected by insanity. In this catalogue of death and disease, the one life-force is ironically a window-breaker, a highly educated former teacher who is possessed by the urge to smash every window she comes across. This may be destructive, but she is both an image of freedom and a pattern asserted on the randomness; life in a landscape of corpses.

The film raises interesting questions about the documentary form, questions about the truth (the newspaper is a 'journal of record'), about history. The film's structure is based literally on documents, which are read out; there are interviews with real people - surely it's a documentary? But the content is largely a series of recreated scenes - these scenes are not recorded as they happen, which might be a definition of a documentary. Yet 'the Thin Blue Line', winner of the best documentary Oscar, was full of recreations. But, if we call this a documentary, than so is, say, 'The Diary of Anne Frank', starring Shelley Winters. These questions are important - documentary sets itself up on a higher ethical register with some glorified access to truth - we must not let this assumption go unquestioned.

'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.

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.

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.

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

Beautiful shot, emotionally distant and utterly incoherent. What interested me in the film to begin with, the story of this small town and all of the bizarre misfortune it faced, turned out to not be true at all. But the film never freely admits this. The film moves between the B&W past and a living-color present. The present documents the town of Black River Falls exclusively, a small town in northern Wisconsin. So, when we flash back to the past, we are led to believe that all of the morbid events: murder, madness and mayhem, that we're hearing about occurred in or around Black River Falls. Perhaps some of it did occur in the immediate region, but more precisely, we're getting accounts of the morbid events from the Black River Falls NEWSPAPER. So we're talking about events all over the state, not in one small town! A girl drowned herself in the lake in Kenosha? Kenosha is near the Illinois border. Not to mention that other towns in the film: Appleton, Rhinelander, Eau Claire, LaCrosse, Beaver Dam, and Madison represent points at every corner of the state. Most people wouldn't realize this, but when you do, you know the rest of the film is based on a flimsy misrepresentation and it completely loses its coherence and what makes its initial premise compelling. If the timeframe were 10 years later, they might well have represented McKinley's assassination as taking place in Black River Falls, since the paper surely had a story about it. I didn't hate the film, it has some great imagery and some of the stories are interesting enough, but I felt cheated more than anything, because in the end, there's no real through-line and as such, not only no resolution but nothing to resolve.

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.

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.

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.

While I was excited at the prospect of a turn of the century documentary about Wisconsin history this disappoints. With all the skill of a boorish film school dropout, this film goes for 'shocking' gusto showing what is an entirely misleading portrait of a small town and state. First things first, the movie is not about exclusively Black River Falls as the film implies with its opening montage. The film purports to be about a sleepy Wisconsin town with little industry or population but ends up being more of a mix of Wisconsin crime history spanning ten years. This effort I'm sure looked wonderful on paper but James Marsh quite obviously does not have the talent to bring this idea to life. While I've no other experience with James Marsh's work, I got the feeling that this film was made for or by the cynical bohemian sitting in a film house sniggering at the 'pathetic' lives of average, normal Midwestern folk. Perched in their lofty lives, looking down on the simple folk blissfully toiling, unaware of the horror they exist in. The film's sense of humor is as joyless and tedious as anything in my recent memory.

Personally speaking, the only humorous attributes of WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP were the tired methods used setting mood. Using songs not remotely of the era, grating cinematic technique, repetitive scenes, the cliché' whispering doctor and the disembodied 'scary' voice telling you of all the 'horrors' of the age. None of the items presented were particularly shocking, nor were they to be unexpected. Ten years ANYWHERE in the world will yield the same results regarding crime. A poor man shot his creditor? Wow, you don't say. A man shot his wife after he catches her cheating? No way! A farmer that lives alone hears voices? Nay I tell you nay! Crazy Norwegian customs!? Stop the press. Padded beyond belief this film presents what could have been discussed in 10-20 minutes into a grueling 76 minutes of schlock tripe. What you're left with is an extremely worthless wooden nickel attempting to make the ordinary seem extraordinary and the only thing amazing about this film is how badly it fails. Avoid this documentary.

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.

"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

I expected this piece of work to at least stimulate the thirst for information but it was so dull I could not sit through it. An amateurish director, payed by numerous corporations and public interests from Wisconsin, makes this seem like an important piece of art, well, do not be fooled, this is worse than a student film. Incoherent and useless vignettes, read by a half mumbling Swede (Ian Holm) narrate what there is of a "plot". There's about 140 "death vignettes" and they are all boring. "Mary Jane shot her two year old son and then ate his guts," begins one story and it is never mentioned again. Big deal, so people killed themselves, there were no ghosts or supernatural things at work, people were miserable in that day, as they are today but the director does nothing to get us interested, he intercuts the film with contemporary society, showing nothing but white people in small town America, an utter bore. He hired a bunch of immature actors who stage the bits in segments, and they are all filmed in black and white, what a waste of film this was. At 1 hour and 15 mins, this is way TOO long and should be forwarded to the end.

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.

So what's so wrong with this movie? First, It was as if they didn't have enough content to make the needed length(90 minutes?), so they filled it full of dead space and useless shots, and still only got it to 76 minutes! Really, If you hacked out all of the useless non-related footage it would probably only run about 35 minutes! Second, whenever something interesting did come up, they skipped right past it, giving us almost no information at all. Third, what was up with that annoying 'whisper like' voice over! I swear, every time that annoying voice came on, I wanted to reach right through the screen and pull the guys tongue out! In fact this was so bad that it got me to post my first ever movie review on this or any site. So please, learn from my mistake, don't waste your time or money on this lousy film. Cause if you don't, you may find yourself doing the exact same thing I'm finishing with right now.

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.

WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP is a one of a kind documentary experience that explores the odd series of violent deaths that plagued a rural Wisconsin town in the late 19th century. The filmmakers do away with the normal structure of a documentary - i.e. an explanatory narrative, talking head interviews and the like - to instead present a montage of reenactments showing these violent deaths in action.

So the reader is subjected to an endless barrage of black and white footage of farmers shooting their wives, wives shooting their husbands, suicide, violent behaviour, and people carted off to the asylum. The cinematography is vivid, spooky and atmospheric, bringing to mind German expressionist cinema of the 1920s, but there's little real meat here and virtually no explanation or structure. I wanted to hear more from historians, from psychologists, to explain the bizarre phenomenon but if you're looking for answers, WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP is oddly hollow. Watch it as a visual experience and a celebration of death, nothing more.

The film is based on newspaper articles and photos, which is surely why it is so emotionally detached from its subjects, but it is simply not possible to have absolutely no emotional connection to any of the characters and remain interested in hearing about their deaths for two hours. It becomes tedious after the first 20 minutes and almost unbearable after 45. The main reoccuring characters -- a whispering mental hospital clerk and a woman who compulsively breaks windows -- are given no personality at all, only roles to perform, and only add to the problem. While well-shot, this movie is dull, plodding, and the worst kind of bad movie: it doesn't even attempt to entertain you, it just drags you along, waiting for the end.

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.

A series of stories connected only due the violent nature, location and time. No context is given on if this time period was really more violent than others, or if this era was more violent in the nation at as a whole. Assuming this was abnormal there is no attempt to explain why this would take place. A very well done series of real life stories, sometimes a little graphic, with no context.

That's what I was doing 30 minutes into this film, sleeping. My friend lasted a little longer than me but he was out at the 45 minute mark. This film could have lasted 20 minutes and you would get the point, instead it goes through each season with the same stuff going on. I love independent films because they are usually much better than big productions, but sometimes there are duds, and this is one. It would be more suited for the TV. Save your money and yourself.

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.

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.

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.