Several stories about Herman, USA besides the one below are on this web site. Here are links to all of them:
Story 1, Story 2, Story 3, Story 4, Story 5, Story 6, Story 7, Story 8, Photos. The following story appeared in Herman's weekly newspaper, The Herman Review, April 12, 2001.
Herman, USA, the movie
By Owen Heiberg
The showing of the movie "Herman U.S.A." at the Historic State Theatre in Minneapolis last Friday (April 6) was a big deal. An audience of close to 2,500 filled the theater. Many of the actors and actresses were there in their finery - Minnesota finery rather than Hollywood finery, but finery nevertheless. The director and the producers were there, some of them in tuxedos. The party at the Harmony Box that followed the showing, which was billed as a "gala reception," was truly gala with long tables of delicious food and drink, a band, sparkling lights, and, it seemed, all 2,500 people and then some.
The movie wasn't bad, either. More about that later.
Those of us who live in Herman have become used to a lot of attention about our bachelor thing. Even so, 2,500 people seemed like a lot of people to turn out for a movie about something that happened seven years ago. And the reviews in the Twin Cities newspapers were lukewarm to discouraging. Why did all these people come? Why was the movie such a big deal?
It did not take much time standing in the lobby or sitting in the theatre to figure out that it wasn't Herman that was the big deal. Even among small towns we placed second. Our "stand in," New Germany, where the movie was filmed, was a bigger deal that evening. That was natural. They arrived together in a bus. And it with them, during the six weeks of filming in New Germany, that the director, cast, and crew of the film had developed relationships.
It was the Minneapolis/St Paul International Film Festival for which "Herman U.S.A." was the lead attraction, that was the big deal. The film festival is a big deal. It runs from April 9 to April 27 and takes place in five theatres throughout the Twin Cities, showing more than 100 films from nearly fifty countries. It is the sixteenth largest film festival in the world, and the movie that began the festival is based on what happened in Herman. There is nothing wrong with our thinking that's a big deal for us, too.
Although the people from Herman came to the movie in small groups, there seemed to be about a busload's worth of them there, too, including people who grew up in Herman and now live elsewhere. Since they were scattered throughout the audience, no one has an actual count.
What about the movie? The collective opinion among those interviewed after the movie went something like this, "That was a good movie. I enjoyed it. It has some good humor. It was a good story." After the lukewarm reviews in the newspapers, every one seem a little surprised that they liked the movie -- were delighted by it. In a speech before the film (there were several speeches by local film dignitaries), Bill Semans, the writer and director of the film characterized the movie as "a gentle, romantic story." That seemed to be how those who saw it saw it, too. Our State Senator Charlie Berg was there. He seemed proud of the movie.
For outside opinions, the "Review" interviewed two young women, one from Germany, the other from Minneapolis.
Karen Pauly is from Paderborn in "Old" Germany. She has been in the United States for three and one-half years, studying at St Olaf College and at the University of Minnesota. She said that the movie, "makes me like Minnesota. It something to enjoy about Minnesota."
Claire Adamsick is from Minneapolis and has the same educational history as Pauly. She said that the movie was a "perfect way of depicting serenity. You can share that feeling even if you're not from a small town. It was a beautiful depiction of the land. It was heart warming, well acted, and very sweet." She said that she got over rural shock when she went to St Olaf in Northfield, the city of cows, colleges and contentment. "I found tranquillity unsettling then."
An e-mail from Ed Newman of Duluth, whose daughter Beci wrote one of the songs for the film, said this, "We were very pleasantly surprised at how good this film is. The writer did a wonderful job weaving the facts of the incident into the portions that contained a lot of literary license." He also spoke with former Vice President Walter Mondale, who was at the showing. Newman said, Vice President Mondale "was very complimentary about the film."
Was the film about Herman? Sort of. Sort of not. Obviously the movie had its roots in the Herman bachelor episode. It took place in a small town, with characters like those who live in Herman and other small towns. But it is certainly not a documentary. It is a story, a piece of fiction, that has our town's name in the title and is based on an episode from our history. But that is about it, and that is certainly OK.
Since most people who have read bout Herman and have now seen a movie based on something that happened in Herman have never been to Herman, Herman is to them more a mythical place than a real place.
That perhaps explains why I was jarred every time someone referred to Herman. I had entered the mythical place of the movie and was surprised to be returned to the real place in which I live.
When he was in Herman last week to write the story that appeared in the "StarTribune," reporter Bob Franklin said that he, too, enjoyed the movie, but he preferred the reality that he wrote about during the two years of Bachelormania. He said, "What really happened was more interesting, deeper, and more interesting."
We now have two Hermans: the mythical one created by world media in 1994 and now given celluloid reality by the movie; and the real one created by Herman Trott and his friends in 1871.
Obviously we appreciate the Herman in which we live. It is an interesting, warm and friendly place. But is also delightful to know that, to the rest of the world, we are a place of story and legend.
Two summers ago, a young woman who was in the movie would not believe me when I said I lived in Herman. She did not know that the town actually existed. To her, we are a mythical place.
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