Leith is a tiny & tranquil hamlet in North Dakota, USA
with a population of just 24 (including children) and widely dotted with
crumbling, dilapidated structures. It definitely questions the definition of a
town and the only working business in it is the local bar. The people seem
well-mannered and remain representatives of the very rural phrase “Everybody has each other’s backs.” The
ghost town was direct effect of the state’s oil boom and everything from
Leith’s vintage signboard to its total isolation gives the feeling of having
traveled back in time. Directors Christopher Walker and Michael Beach Nichols’ remarkable
documentary Welcome to Leith (2015), however, isn’t a muted chronicle of the
life in a sleepy town.
Back in 2011, a
thin, bearded elderly guy named Craig Cobb moved to Leith. He first brought a
decrepit house with no running water. Later, he bought few other cheap lots of
land in and around Leith. What the town residents didn’t know was that Cobb is a notorious
Nazism-spouting, anti-Semitic white supremacist. With land prices at an
all-time low in Leith, Cobb has put out a call to his brethren to help him take
political control of the small town and turn it into a haven for like-minded racists.
Walker and Nichols’ documentary drops us straight into this conflict of
attempted takeover, with dozen or so local people seeming to stand against
Cobb’s desire to build his own Nazi utopia. Despite the high-running tensions
and an allegedly clear-cut good vs evil perspective, directors Nichols and Walker take a
calm, even-keeled approach, gaining full access and trust (over the course of
eight months) of the bewildered residents and the overly determined Cobb (and
his supporters).
Southern
Poverty Law Center, a non-profit organization that monitors hate groups and
other extremist factions throughout the US, considers Cobb “one of the top ten
white supremacists in the United States”. Some of his cronies include Alex
Linder of the Vanguard News Network and Tom Metzger, people who advocate Jewish
genocide. Once Cobb’s intentions were made clear to the townspeople and after
New York Times did a story on Cobb’s plans in Leith (in August 2013), the
situation turned kind of scary. Cobb started posting the town residents’
personal information online – as he had previously done with judges who’d ruled
against him, where in one case it (indirectly) led to two murders – and proudly
displayed flags of formerly all-white nations of Europe. He spouted hate at
town-hall meeting, hoping to make them react with fear. And not long before,
the reasonable people of Leith declared: “We’re going to start packing guns all
the time”.
In one extreme
situation, Cobb and his invitee Kynan Dutton – a troubled war veteran and
member of National Socialist Movement who has moved with his wife and two kids
– patrol the streets of Leith carrying loaded weapons. Eventually, the
Sheriff’s deputies arrest Cobb and Dutton and charge them with seven counts of
terrorizing. However, a less-punishing plea deal angers the residents, although
the deal forced Cobb out of town (the vacant plots of land are however still
owned by white supremacists). Cobb has from then on attempted similar moves in small
towns and his increasing online activity is centered on endorsing Donald Trump.
Welcome to
Leith tells a very specific tale of extremism, even though its emotional
implications are easily relatable. Nichols and Walker’s distanced observational
skills help in showcasing how toxic beliefs could perpetuate a climate of fear
which may irreparably affect the lives and perspectives of rational, reasonable
individuals. The directing duo could have simply made this into black &
white affair by solely focusing on Cobb’s obnoxious, irritable ideology. But
they subtly raise questions about how Leith residents finally reacted to the
perceived danger (the bullying and burning as they view police & judicial
system super-inefficient). Much more interesting is the way Nichols and Walker
allow the Aryan separatists and Neo-Nazis to speak for themselves. The matter-of-fact
declarations of these racist head cases provide a very palpable, terrifying
look at extremist beliefs. Craig Cobb comes off as the multi-faceted guy no
fiction writer could conceive. His warm smile may make some think him as the
nicest guy on the planet. But the striking moment where he marches with a rifle
around the town, bragging about being ‘one of the most famous racists in the
world’ is outright horrific.
The sheer
volatile nature of Cobb, not only makes him fearful, but also at times pathetic.
Nichols and Walker’s approach might be seen passive and laid-back to a fault.
However, their staunchly neutral stance raises some important questions about
freedom of speech (most particularly about US constitution's first amendment rights), especially
when Cobb admits he spends 16 or 17 hours a day to spread pure hate online. While
Cobb is no doubt dangerous, few observations by the directors kind of make him
a laughable character. It’s amusing to see him after the release from jail,
courteously requesting an African-American motel clerk for a room. Despite
understanding the weight of Cobb’s hateful thoughts, we unnaturally feel an
iota of pity at the sight of this forlorn old guy carrying all his possessions
in a garbage bag. The directors’ nuanced pronouncement here is that they don’t
have to demonize Cobb, when he is very much capable of doing it through his
words and actions. Nevertheless, there are few occasions where Nicholas and
Walker’s gliding camera movements seem to belong in a horror feature (aided by
a haunting score done by composer T. Griffin), creating a tense immediacy. The
documentary as one could expect ends without a conclusion. The people of Leith
have put the things behind them and want things to go back to normal, the way they were before
coming under national spotlight. Craig Cobb is also following his normal
routine of hate-spouting who adores his leader & US President Trump.
Overall, Welcome to Leith (85 minutes) is a timely and terrifying look at
hate-groups roaming the land of dreams and opportunities.
Trailer
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