Review of Wisconsin Death Trip (1999) by Zac M — 04 Apr 2009

I really thought this film was broken at first, like it didn't know what the hell it was trying to display exactly. After a while it kind of grew on me and I really began to like it in a surprising way.

This isn't the first documentary director James Marsch has worked on and it certainly won't be the last that I watch from him, as I look forward to viewing his "Man on Wire" documentary.

This film collects various bizarre, obscene, and tragic events which befell Black River Falls, Wi and surrounding areas. Between the 1890's and 1900's this region of Wisconsin experienced an influx of all kinds of trouble and despair and the accounts were collected within the local news papers and re-invisioned through dramatizations via the documentary.

All of the accounts from the film are narrated by a solid perfomance from english actor Ian Holm, and the cinematography of Eigil Brylld is absolutely superb. However I do have some discrepencies within the doc' both of which are common amongst a handful of critics; I did not appreciate the voice over of the whispering actor reading from the records of the sanitarium as well as the comparison from the 1900's Black River Falls, Wi to the 2000's Black River Falls, Wi is a bit off putting and doesn't seem to be entirely necessary.

Aside from those minor yet annoying features within "Wisconsin Death Trip," I was able to enjoy the various interesting stories of death that occured in the state of Wisconsin. Though not the best documentary I've seen it can be humorous and enlightening.

I could recommend this to anyone who lives in the state of Wisconsin and people who enjoy peculiar documentaries.