VHS : Matewan [1987]

Rating: - a timely "history" lesson
It is a rarity these days to see a film that has a social conscience, what with Hollywood more preoccupied with more action and better special effects, so watching this movie feels a little like wallowing in nostalgia. It is a slice of movie as history lesson, written and directed by one of the last humanitarian directors still working today, John Sayles.
Taking as its starting point the labour wars that went on in America during the 1920's, the film deals with the fictional account of a group of West Virginia miners in the town of Matewan. After the Stone Mine Coal Company reduces rates of pay yet again, the miners go on strike, with the result that the company bring in hired guns both to remove the miners from company owned houses, and protect the mine from sabotage attempts. Gradually things escalate, and violence breeds violence as the genuine grievances of the miners are met head on with the intransigence of the company.
Working with a trio of his favourite actors, Sayles has crafted a film that whilst it deals with a fictionalised event, has such a compelling ring of truth to it that you may find it hard to believe that you are not watching historical fact (as indeed I did). Chris Cooper is superb as Joe Kenehan, the man brought in by the fledgling United Mine Workers union to try to help the miners organize, who must fight against the miners natural inclination to fight fire with fire whilst trying to convince them that solidarity is the only way, and Mary McDonnall gives a quiet, dignified performance as Elma Radnor, a widow who's husband has already met his death down the mine due to the company's appalling safety record, and now sees her son risking the same as he becomes a miner himself. But the two standout performances are David Strathairn as the towns sheriff, a slight figure of a man who refuses to be bullied by the companies thugs and is prepared to do whatever he must in order to protect the people under his jurisdiction, and James Earl Jones as the aptly named Few Clothes, one of a number of workers brought in by the company to work the mine who finds his true sympathies lie with the striking miners.
The film deals with Sayles preoccupation of the little man being given a rough ride by those in power, and whilst his other films have only handled this subject in a metaphorical manner (such as Eight Men Out), this deals with it in a head on, literal sense. Whilst the film literally screams worthiness from the very opening shot, it avoids sermonising on the whole (apart from a few scenes when characters do, literally deliver sermons), and manages to salute both a pacifist ideal and at the same time admit that some ideals must occasionally be defended with violence. It is also something of a slow burn, with several scenes managing to avoid the expected violence altogether, but when the violence does come it is both quick and brutal, tragic and life changing.

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Rating: - State of the Union
Matewan was a pleasant surprise. The subject matter cried out ‘dull but worthy’ and John Sayles is distinctly hit-and-miss when dealing with historical subjects, as the problematic Eight Men Out underlines, but this is quite a superb movie with a scope well beyond its budget. Almost a slow burn western as a miner’s strike leads slowly but inevitably to a violent shootout between the railroad detectives and the local lawman and strikers, it’s an involving and intelligent piece of work. That’s not to say it’s without problems: it perhaps overstates Kevin Tighe’s villainous stupidity (could he really have laughed his way through a sermon without seeing the relevance?), a scene where the white, black and Italian miners set aside their differences through music feels too Hollywood, and Haskell Wexler over diffuses the light a couple of times in that irritating late-70s-early-80s way in his otherwise exemplary cinematography.

Sayles briefly offers another one of his stomach-turning cameos as a preacher, but at least he’s only in it for a minute or two (unlike his genuinely irritating Ring Lardner impersonation in Eight Men Out) and he’s on much more solid grounds with his impressive ensemble cast – a young Chris Cooper on excellent form, Mary McDonnell before she got irritating, James Earl Jones before he stopped acting, David Strathairn, Bob Gunton and Will Oldham among them. You get the sense that Sayles likes his characters and cares for them. It’s that which prevents the film from slipping into easy dogma and posturing and which makes it still seem surprising and shocking when the inevitable violence breaks out. And it’s that that helps you overlook the flaws and embrace its many strengths.

No extras, but at least Second Sight's DVD is widescreen.

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Rating: - Sayles' best
Many of John Sayles' films are about the oppression of the American working man by the man (Brother from Another Planet, Eight Men Out) and his broadly left-wing sensibilities suffuse all his work. It is funny that his best film (well in my opinion anyway) is literally about the oppression of the working class.

This is a fantastic movie - a terribly sad tale of a group of minors in Matewan, West Virginia in the 1920s as the struggle to unionise, fight for better pay and conditions. In fact the company is even more sinister: it owns their homes, it runs the only shop (they are not even paid in US dollars, they are paid in company scrip), effectively it owns them.

The main protagonist is the union representative sent into the town to help organise a strike. The film centres on him as it follows the story of strike through to the inevitable conclusion in violence and tragedy.

Almost every aspect of the film is close to perfection: the cinematography (presumably on a tiny budget) is beautiful and haunting, the story is well paced with a tangible feeling of authenticity and the cast is excellent. There is a real "sense of place" - I felt transported to West Virginia and into the lives of the strikers. This is not a simplistic film - it tackles complex subjects like justifiable violence and racism (when black workers are imported to break the strike) in an intelligent and thoughtful way.

Simply wonderful

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Rating: - Matewan deserves to be a best seller
Matewan is a superb film, good acting, excellently shot, and a rivetting story.
The ending is violent, but that too is well done.
The film is about a coal miners strike in 1920's USA. As a union man, I was swinging between pride and anger throughout the film. It's a brilliant portrayal of what our forefathers went through to get where we are now.

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Rating: - Capitalism is only a step away from this again ....
This film is about the absolute power Capitalists want. Not the namby pamby power of the "right to manage" which Thatcher droned on about but real gun toting, red in tooth and claw absolute control.
Set in pre WW1 West Virginia, the workers have the audacity to want a better life - horror of horrors the United Minewokers of America turn up and all hell breaks loose!
After trying (and failing) to turn the various nationalities against each other, the tactic of starving the workers back and the murder of several strikers, the Capitalists hire a private army (backed up by the US Army) which brings about an enormous wild west style shoot out in the small mining town.
If you are a left leaning type it should make you fear the future; your employer really would like the return of "the good old days"; if you are right leaning then the film shows that you cant crush the workers forever.