Week 35: North Dakota

"I ain't the kind believes in ghosts
 But some nights I get pretty close
 When the North Dakota winter moans..."
 - 'North Dakota',
 Chris Knight

 

From North Carolina we head on to North Dakota. It's a fair old way further north, and just as far farther west. From the muggy Atlantic coast we are in to the very centre of the North American landmass, up on the Canadian border.

 

Boxed in by Canada, Montana, Minnesota and South Dakota I feel a bit sorry for North Dakota. It's neighbours all seem so much more charismatic. Montana is the 'Big Sky Country'. South Dakota has the Black Hills, Badlands National Park and Mount Rushmore. Minnesota has the Twin Cities on the Mississippi and hundreds of lakes. Apparently North Dakota is the US's least visited state. What does it have to lure the tourists in? Missile silos, wheatfields and a state capital named after a 19th Century German Chancellor. (Bismarck - all part of a plan to attract German investment in railroads and German immigration. It seems to have been successful; 2.5% of the population speak German apparently).

 

We have just about visited North Dakota previously however. Its largest city is Fargo. In fact the Coen Brothers' Fargo made it on to my original list for North Dakota before someone pointed out that all but two scenes were actually set in Minnesota. So I have had to find alternative movies for this week. And it wasn't easy. I've ended up with two films that I'd never heard of beforehand, and one that is famously terrible. So it could be an interesting week...

The three films are:

• Dakota (1945)
• Leprechaun (1993)
• The Messengers (2007)