Harlan County, U.S.A.

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Russ Gee, and I thought I had it tough working my way through college in the Seventies! For students of history this is a Must See. If there had been a dentist in that town these miner families were too poor to obtain his services. After you see this documentary you'll never again say "The unions will be the death of this country!" Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/01/23 Full Review Audience Member Pretty extraordinary just how intense the picket line got back in the mid 70s and the passion showers by the workers is great cinema. But the documentary is beset by problems like poor sound quality, romanticised country hick music and an extremely one sided account. There's drama and impassioned oppressed worker sentimentality to enjoy in any case. Not all bad but too conventional a documentary to be groundbreaking. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review jon c Harlan County, Kentucky is the coal mining haven of America This documentary directed by Barbara Copple chronicles several families in this town of their battle against the corporate system by unionizing The men work long hours for short wages Poverty, black lung disease, and disaster are daily facts of life in Harlan County U.S.A. After the coal miners at the Brookside Mine join a union in 1973, the owners refuse the labor contract leading to a workers strike Once the miners start to strike, the owners of the mine respond by hiring scabs to fill the jobs of the regular employees even being escorted by police The strike, which lasts more than a year, frequently becomes violent, with guns produced on both sides, and one miner is even killed in a conflict The townsfolk feel they're being treated like animals by the Duke Power Co. headed by Carl Horn who's assured everyone he's made them dozens of offers His company maintains housing for people who don't have indoor plumbing or running water and provides trailer homes Yet the workers make a stand saying they've been shot at, beaten, imprisoned their whole lives It's also not the first time violence has been used when it comes to these demonstrations as it first occurred in the early 1930's You can shoot someone but never shoot the Union out of them Even the women become strong activists for the coal miner's workers Union whom are courageous, loud, honest, and articulate For a lot of the miners they can barely get a pension and end up quitting because of the terrible work environment This film won the Oscar for best feature documentary of 1976 and was even inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1990 Takes a lot of courage to cover something like this but more to document it all on film because it's real The violent encounters Copple witnesses are raw and riveting Nice partisan documentary filmmaking even if it suffers from some structural issues and lapses of judgement This film shows the lack of theoretical foundations in the American labour movement being a pioneer for struggle and change Not for everyone but important still to acknowledge Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Whose side (you're supposed) to be on? Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review dave s Documentarian Barbara Kopple's Harlan County USA is a remarkable film, following a thirteen-month coal miner strike at the Brookside Mine in eastern Kentucky. The events escalate steadily from beginning to end, ultimately resulting in gunfire and death. The film provides insight into the corporate greed of the mine owners, the steely determination of the miners as they fight for fair wages and safe working conditions, and how a community comes together and stands shoulder to shoulder to defend their principles. Kopple has to be commended for her guerrilla tactics, often throwing herself and her crew into insanely dangerous situations. The film seems to lose a bit of focus when it strays too far from the strike activity, but it still a powerful and impactful film. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Extremely intimate and engaging documentary about a year long coal miner strike in Harlan County, Kentucky told through the eyes of the strikers. Kopple, at such a young age and as a first time filmmaker, achieves this level of intimacy by relying largely on primary footage to tell the miner's story, in their own words, and offers no narration or voice overs, letting the emotionally charged footage speak for itself. The saddest aspect about watching a doc like this is realizing how many people are still dealing with these same economic issues forty years later. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Harlan County, U.S.A.

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