Welcome to Leith is a 2015 documentary, was directed by Christopher K. Walker and Michael Beach Nichols. The documentary was ultimately built up as a dramatic thriller, which focused on a group of white supremacists, who wish to establish their own town in North Dakota. Surprisingly, the town’s name is Leith. Duh and thats about as far as the film does in terms of substance. As soon as the film starts, we’re fed overly dramatic, overhyped drivel about Craig Cobb, who is billed as a ticking time bomb, which is about the ignite WW3. For the first 10 or 20 minutes, reporters, journalists and others chat about Cobb and his scandalous history.

The directors insisted they were inspired by Erroll Morris or The Thin Blue Line fame. Unfortunately, Welcome To Leith never achieves the greatness of the aforementioned documentary. The mass majority of the film is pieced together from self-filmed video, which makes even the worst YouTubers look like 20th Century Fox. Throw in the bickering back and forth between the kooky white supremacist  and the white liberals, who have been stirred up by the media, and Welcome to Leith takes on a Jerry Springer KKK episode. Yep, even the customary DNA test is there. All the while, the African Americans interviewed seem to care very little about Leith or their rickety camp.

The longer the documentary dwindles on, the worse it gets. The documentary is such a waste and ultimately fails to achieve its goal of vilifying Craig Cobb. In fact, Cobb and his allies seems somewhat sympathetically. Despite their beliefs, they seem to stick to themselves and rarely venture out of their camp. The media and local radio hosts worsen the situation and encourage locals to confront the white supremacist group in their town. Of course the local media attends and films the entire confrontation. Unfortunately, this is precisely what Cobb wants and what he wants, he gets. He acquires the attention that he so desperately seeks and Welcome To Leith follows in suit.

 

Although Michael Nichols and Christopher Walker have attempted to extort the locals and Cobb, they’re actually feeding into the stupidity of the situation. When you check out Nichols’ portfolio, you’ll quickly discover his true agenda. Unfortunately, the documentary fails and turns out to be a scrambled mess. If you’re looking for a good documentary with plenty of substance, you won’t find it here. You’re better off watching old KKK Jerry Springer episodes on YouTube. At least that show isn’t trying to play itself off as something serious. Welcome to Leith is truly a disaster, which deserves a 4 out of 10. Don’t bother.