MovieChat Forums > Wisconsin Death Trip (2000) Discussion > A beautifully disturbing film

A beautifully disturbing film


It's quite amazing what one can do with a documentary. The film takes certain events from a troubled time in Wisconsin's 1890's and almost concocts a narrative film out of the whole history. The use of recreated/staged performances of some of the events are wonderfully shot and really gets to the spectator as they simultaneously take in Ian Holm's narration. I liked how it was divided into seasons showing a kind of progression in the town's ordeals.

Extraordinary use of b/w. I don't know if I liked seeing the present world contrasted with the past events. Perhaps that could have been seperate. Suppose they wanted to give another take on the town after all the menacing things we've seen, but it's a bit awkward.

Wonderful documentary!

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[deleted]

I haven't seen the film, so I can't honestly comment on its contents. However, I can say that Black River Falls is not the dark place you seem to think it is. My family lives in that area. I even have relatives in the city. It is not a dangerous place. There aren't common murders or hauntings or crazy people wandering around. It's just a typical small town in Wisconsin. I hate to think that this movie might be giving people a false impression of a place that is so important to my family.

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[deleted]

Then I suggest (if you're still following the boards) that you read the book or see the movie to see what it's all about, because I'll sorry to be so blunt, but you don't know what you are talking about.

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It's not Black River Falls that the book and the movie are about.

It's about people everywhere, and the things that go on under the surface.

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So you're saying my city might go crazy? AWESOME!!!!!!!!

The loser is always at fault.

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Your city IS crazy. All cities are. It's just superficially hidden.

Ask anyone who works in an emergency room, or any cop, or anyone who knows a lot about the history of your city, or anyone who really understands human nature.

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I watched it again today, thinking about the financial turmoil now going on in the state of Wisconsin. It struck me as I watched the scene of the firemen putting out the house fire, that there's the possibility that soon there won't be any fire departments to the extent that there are today if the governor's plans go through to cut back collective bargaining, and instead of police departments, the good folks of Wisconsin will have to round up posses to catch the bad guys just like they did in the good old days of "Wisconsin Death Trip." (That's already happening to some extent here where I live -- there have been a couple of fires and that were not extinguished in a timely manner due to "brownouts" caused by lack of funding for the fire dept.) It's an interesting and disturbing film, and I think it would have been improved by a more substantive perspective, something that goes beyond the newspaper editor's commentary to put what was happening in the town and area in context as to what was going on in the U.S. at the time, as in "so goes Wisconsin, so goes the U.S.A.". I read the book, and anticipated seeing it for the first time way back in 1999. It was entertaining to see it again, but still missing something.

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