The Stand at Paxton County

It's not best picture material, but it doesn't deserve the negative reviews. It's "flyover country" problems, but those too are real problems. It shows how corrupt well-intentioned laws can become. Very good.

Netflix has a little drama, The Stand at Paxton County, that can be neglected for its hackneyed plot but not ignored for the real-life application of a new law opening ranches in the NW to exploitation and old-fashioned rustling.

The new Title allows a neighboring rancher or farmer to claim neglect and, with a vet's nod, send the sheriff to confiscate the animals. This thriller depicts the consequences for an accused rancher. As mystery, the film is pretty pedestrian; as a wakeup call for ranchers, farmers, and those sympathetic to their struggles, it succeeds getting attention, if only to point out how property rights can be endangered, and, of course, basic freedom.

Army medic Janna Connelly (Jacqueline Toboni), on leave to visit her ailing N Dakota dad, Dell (Michael O'Neill), finds some local authorities are harassing ranchers with the new legislation, to the point of one rancher committing suicide. Because she is a trained medic, she researches the problem and pursues a solution. The problem involves bad hombres trying legally to benefit from seizing livestock, and good people hamstrung by the new law.

While the plot is boilerplate thriller, the insight into the downside of such a statute is eye-opening if not sensational. The plot takes sinister turns including poisoning and murder. In N Dakota? Yep, just ask the Fargo folks. This place can't get a break, and as isolated remote as the state is, we have an abiding interest in its extracurricular mayhem.

Although nothing in the plot can be considered remotely new, except for the legal boondoggle that propels it, a little bell of awareness rings about our fellow Americans' ability to encroach on our freedoms by pursuing our property by legal means. That's the rub of this thriller: seemingly good people turn bad when money and property rule.

See The Stand at Paxton County: you'll learn something about N. Dakota, the wild West, and the vulnerability livestock owners face every day.

Contrary to the initial claim of the first reviewer, just a cursory research on the web verifies that the basics of this story are true. And in real life the judge threw out the charges of animal abuse and ordered the animals be returned to their rightful owner. And nowhere in the movie is the mistreatment of animals glorified. It is a story about a conspiracy to claim falsely that animal abuse HAD occurred in order to seize the ranch. But enough of correcting obvious misstatements in reviews.

In reality, this movie is actually a well crafted suspense piece that you can relate to even if you have never been on a ranch. For those looking for extended gun fights and other lengthily episodes of gratuitous violence, look elsewhere. The emphasis here is on suspense, not violence. And there's that other subtle message from this story, viz. should business owners of all pursuits be a bit apprehensive about their government's growing penchant to shut them down and seize their property, whether based on animal abuse or health concerns.

I recommend you give the movie and Netflix a chance. It will be well worth you time.

Very interesting true story that I feel needed to be told. This was film editor Brett Hedlund's directorial debut, and although his inexperience showed, especially in directing his cast, it was still decent for his first visit to the rodeo. Newb writers Carl Morris and David Michael O'Neill put the story together quite well and smoothly, but the pacing certainly needed a pick-up, as the 102 min runtime felt long and dragged out. I'm glad though that this film wasn't Hollywood glorified. It felt more like a Lifetime TV show, and that's not a bad thing. Cinematography was good, and the score and sound very fitting. An enjoyable film, but you'll need patience before anything really interesting starts to happen. It's a 7/10 from me.

Good story presenting the abuse of power by activist groups taking advantage of ranchers. The movie presents a real problem with overreach perpetrated by special interest groups who created loopholes in laws, passed in the name of helping needy animals. Acting is decent and story is good, but gets a little "conspiracy " focused. But the story needs to be told. Extremists who don't want animals used at all in ranching push bad laws into law, then harass ranchers to go out of business.