The Stand at Paxton County

This movie is based on a true story and illustrates the what happens when you have corrupt people in positions of authority. It is well worth watching as a lesson in history of what can happen when bad people get into positions of power.

The first thing that jumps out on me is that the Fergus Falls newspaper is in the WRONG state. Fergus Falls is in MN. I was in ND when this was going on, it was a terrible story but why make things up? Good movie once you get over the errors.

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.

This film is a surprise, predictable plot - but for some reason I found it very compelling and interesting, it has a slow first half as it sets up the characters and main story line. It also identifies some serious issues with the way that laws are made, applied and abused.

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.