ENTERTAINMENT

Review: 'Cheeseheads: The Documentary' wholesome Wisconsin fun

Taima Kern
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
John Mitchell, at right, poses with Jeff Kahlow, of Fond du Lac. Kahlow, owner of Big Guy Hats, produced some Wisconsin-shaped foam hats for Mitchell to go along with the release of the documentary. Kahlow is also featured in the documentary itself.
  • A screening of the documentary will be 6 p.m. March 18 at the Holiday Inn, Fond du Lac

Spoiler alert: This documentary contains ample amounts of beer, cheese, tailgating shots and Wisconsin favoritism.

That said, with a name like “Cheeseheads: The Documentary,” that is to be expected.

Writer, producer, narrator and Wisconsin native John Mitchell set out to make a “love letter” documentary about his home state, inspired by the spirit he saw at tailgating events for the Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers in the early 2010s. This winter, that love letter reached completion and Mitchell has recently been on a screening tour through some of the towns he visited during his four-year trek across the state.

Up next, he will screen the documentary for the public at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 18, in the Lake Winnebago Conference Center at the Holiday Inn in Fond du Lac. The event will include a meet-and-greet with complimentary snacks, plenty of Cheesehead swag, charity raffle prizes and the showing, which will start at 7 p.m. and be presented free of charge.

The documentary opens with stunning time-lapse video footage of the northern lights and night sky from the shores of Lake Superior (the only footage in the film not shot by Mitchell). This footage is overlaid with Mitchell’s baritone narrative voice as he waxes philosophical. It then leads into a bit of self-explanation, showing the viewer the experiences that led Mitchell to create it. Once the stage has been set, the documentary jumps around through a series of vignettes that showcase everything Mitchell considers essential to the Cheesehead way of life.

Overall, more than 300 sources were interviewed during the course of making this movie, and they are from all walks of life. From the tailgating fan by his truck to owners of cheese companies to the sitting governor in Madison, Mitchell talked to everyone.

More: Sept. 28, 2015: Documentary is love-letter to Cheeseheads

Through this, he equalized the people, showing that no matter what else they were, they were still Cheeseheads.

Cheeseheads: The Documentary

Pros:

  • Everybody gets a word in edgewise — As mentioned above, Mitchell interviewed more than 300 sources, and a great many of them made the final cut for the film as presented. It’s always a good idea to have more than one opinion on any topic, and when you’ve got as many agreeing parties as Mitchell has, it’s hard to believe anyone in Wisconsin has a differing opinion.
  • Joy abounds — The documentary is so packed full of the things we like about Wisconsin (or at least the things I like about it) that after I finished watching it, I was ready to pack up my camera, my bathing suit and my pals and go visit the Hodag statue or the House on the Rock, or maybe go home to the water parks in the Dells and stop for cheese and brews along the way. It made me genuinely happy to have grown up in and still live in Wisconsin.
  • I learned something — I did not know that so many people of note had roots in Wisconsin. Though I’m positive that every state has its own claim to fame, it’s nice to learn about what Wisconsin’s specific claims are. Mitchell doesn’t name drop these. Instead, he digs into each of them and allows the people who know their legacies best to explain what Wisconsin had to do with their lives, beyond being the patch of ground they walked on once upon a time. In addition to educating us on our successful Cheesehead brethren, Mitchell pays special attention to the history of the state, the history of the word and the history of the culture.  

Cons:

It was hard to find things wrong with the documentary, so I’ll settle for things I may have done differently.

  • Text on the screen — On several occasions, Mitchell incorporates a quote as a segue device. However, these only appear on the screen and are not read aloud and didn’t always appear on screen long enough to read and ingest. While taking notes and watching the documentary, I had to “rewind” more than once to catch the quote. That said, if someone provides this documentary their complete attention, I imagine it would be less jarring. 
  • Talking over the noise — In some cases, I got distracted by trying to hear what the people were saying in the background over the noise of the machines in the factories segments. There were subtitles in most cases to clarify, and the noise is, of course, very necessary to really put you in the setting, but it made me afraid that I might be missing something. 
  • Makes us look better than we are — There really isn’t anything overtly negative about Wisconsin said in the documentary. Though I’m sure some would and will take offense to the attention given to beer and tailgating, it isn’t shown in a negative light. The piece is happy, friendly and positive.

All in all, this was one of the more entertaining documentaries that I’ve ever seen, and I’d classify it as fun, worth the watch and zero minutes of wasted time.

Taima Kern is the Community Content Specialist for Action Publications. She can be reached at 920-907-7819 or tkern@gannett.com