During the last 10 years of the 19th century, Black River Falls, a small town in Wisconsin, witnessed a catalogue of ostensibly unrelated shocking events. At that time the town was only around 40 years old. Immigrants from Europe, particularly Germany and Norway, set up home in the picturesque  state of Wisconsin, a seemingly idyllic spot with fertile land and no interference from the indigenous Indians.  Starting with an unemployed man's attempt to take his own life, an unbelievable decade of murder, suicide, disease, mental illness and broken marriages follows. Children randomly shoot a farmer, a mother drowns her children, a cocaine snorting school teacher compulsively smashes windows, and many more apparently unassociated episodes unfold as the dark secrets of the town are revealed through original photographs and modern reconstructions. The story is narrated by the town's newspaper editor (Ian Holm), a god-fearing Englishman who's dead pan delivery of the events is flavoured with irony and moral indignation.

Wisconsin Death Trip is a fascinating and disturbing insight into a dark time in America's history. The events that took place are real and were documented in a collection of photographs taken at the time by Charles Van Schaick (published in Michael Lesy's 1973 book "Wisconsin Death Trip"). Director James Marsh has bought this astonishing period to life by using the photographs along with black-and-white filmed portrayals of the endless harrowing occurrences. As the amount of horrors unfolding becomes almost unbearable, snippets of modern day life in Black River Falls are shown; a calm, quiet town, where the everyday folk go about their business oblivious to the town's sordid past. With a stunning soundtrack adding to the unease, Wisconsin Death Trip is at the same time a beautiful and unpleasant experience, mesmeric yet despondent. 

Wisconsin Death Trip.  1999

Directed by James Marsh

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