Wisconsin Death Trip

Posted on January 24th, 2011 by Ben Bronsink in Wisconsin Death Trip (1999)

Wisconsin Death Trip 1999

Genre: Documentary on death and OCD in the 1890s

Starring: Every crazy person in one town in Wisconsin in the 1890s

For fans of: crazy people, macabre yet beautiful images, Wisconsin

ONE MINUTE SUMMARY

A guy reading a nineteenth century newspaper from a small town in Wisconsin… That sounds like a great documentary right? Well, somehow it is. Wisconsin Death Trip is a methodic, poignant jab at how crazy us Americans have been, are, and can be. The sounds you hear are real newspaper articles being read; the sights you see are real photographs from the many Wisconsinians (Wisconssites, Wisconsers???) of the same era; the transcripts are real analyses from the Mendoza Asylum. And the feeling you get? Well, it’s an all too real reminder of a past we’ve tried really hard to forget. Some of the footage is from the town where I was born. Now that’s crazy!

COMMENTS
There are some scenes in Death Trip that are haunting. The black-and-white reenactment video matches the photography perfectly.  The short clips of modern-day Wisconsin remind us that we’re all a little different and yet very much the same as are heritage. The comedic scenes offer a balance to the grizzly deaths and suicides. If you see it, I’m interested to know what you think about all the religious subtext.

If you like documentaries, try this one out; I think you’ll like it. It’s slow, but the pacing is steady. The people are real, eccentric, and could have been me had I grown up there at that time. Every person who’s a little odd gets sent to the asylum, every 14 year old gets married to a septuagenarian, every window is broken by a lady who’s obsessed with breaking windows. Then there’s the guy who’s obsessed with climbing trees (spoiler alert).

OVERALL RATING: 7 out of 10

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