| |
|
 Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976)
Director:
Barbara Kopple
Stars: Arnold Miller, Carl Horn
Release Company:
The Criterion Collection
MPAA Rating: PG
|
|
|
Two Men Mining for Coal
Giclee Print
Buy at AllPosters.com
 
|
Come all of you good workers,
Good news to you I'll tell,
Of how the good old union
Has come in here to dwell.
Which side are you on?
Which Side Are You On?
Florence Reece's classic union song bluntly establishes the boundaries of how viewers will receive Barbara Kopple's remarkable Harlan County, U.S.A., which deservedly won an Academy Award—for Best Documentary Feature in 1977. Big business sympathizers will see the film as Communist propaganda while labor advocates will extol the film as a landmark portrait that literally gets inside the mines and the core issues at stake. Kopple attempts to get management views recorded on film, but they decline for the most part. Besides, views from the coal miners' perspective weaves a far more interesting tapestry than the generic spin that corporate heads publicly reveal.
Why Kentucky's Harlan County? Being one of the poorest counties is only one of the attractions, allowing the filmmaker to photograph ramshackle mining company shacks that don't even have indoor plumbing or running water. The fact that Duke Power refuses to sign a contract after the Brookside Mine workers joined the United Mine Workers of America in 1973 heightens the interest, but additionally Harlan County has a history of bloody conflict over its mines. A previous strike in 1931 led to violence, as armed company deputies terrorized the Harlan community, seeking union leader to pulverize, arrest, or kill. But that didn't stop the workers back then—they fought back and bashed some heads as well, which inspired Reece to compose her song. Alone with her seven children, she watched the sheriff and his men lay in waiting to shoot her union leader husband if he returned home. Historical heritage like this cannot be overlooked, so the yearlong 1973 strike provided plenty of drama.
Kopple avoids voice over throughout, allowing the locals to supply the words. She attempts to stay out of the conflict herself, only drawn in noticeably twice—once when a local gun-toting thug boss asks for her press pass and during a chaotic shootout where she is pushed to the ground. From the opening shots of miners hopping onto a conveyer belt that plunges them into the darkness of the mine over the strains of Merle Travis' "Dark as a Dungeon," Kopple establishes Harlan County, U.S.A. as a miner's point of view film. The hand held camera gains remarkable access into their homes, meetings, and picket line stands.
Conversations with miners and their families often leads in divergent directions that provides useful background on the history of the United Mine Workers union, perspective on past labor strikes, mining disasters, and black lung disease. Statements by management that there is no proof that miner's suffer needlessly from respiratory contaminants are plainly refuted by a number of ailing miners and a medical specialist that shows the postmortem remains of destroyed lung tissue. Ironically, the company's policy propels workers inevitably towards their deaths, since they receive no benefits for treatment until they are disabled (far too late for a successful cure). One old retired miner points out that the company really doesn't care about its workers, relaying a story how a supervisor explained that the mules are the first priority to save in even of disaster: "They can replace a worker with another man, but they'd have to buy another mule."
Since Kopple gains such intimate access, she films a few items that the workers certainly would edit out if they could. Their solidarity is only forged through the perseverance of a handful of labor leaders, and the power of the women truly comes through. However, not before they show their fears, discouragement, and actually have one shouting session that could serve as precursor for the Jerry Springer Show (fighting women can get personal and vicious). Juxtaposed with the raw emotions and the scary brutality are beautifully photographed Kentucky hill country greenery, and supporting the context are numerous traditional mining songs. The fact that non-professionals perform these folk songs lends authenticity and atmosphere to the documentary.
Anyone interested in labor and union relations can learn a great deal from Kopple's landmark film. Although specifically tied to the 1973 coalminers' strike in Harlan County, the same principles cited here apply elsewhere. Early in the film an old retiree describes the previous strike when they fought for a 2-cent raise to get 8 cents an hour pay, explaining that only the union stood for the rights of the miners. The politicians, the union leaders, and the Catholic hierarchy all attempted to intervene on behalf of the owners, and serious negotiations only occurred after bloodshed broke out. The man appears prophetic by the end of Harlan County, U.S.A., a film that serves as an important historical document and unfortunately remains as relevant today as it was thirty years ago.
|
|
|
|
