Harlan County, U.S.A.

1976 documentary

Rating: 16/20

Plot: Filmed account of a 1970s strike by miners who aren't allowed to unionize. They're also ticked off that they have a job that gets their clothes and teeth dirty. Well, what little teeth they have anyway. This is Kentucky that we're talking about. The dentists are probably striking, too. Scabs are brought in as the strike threatens to erupt into a fervent tickle fight.

This is a harrowing, objective human interest documentary that's worth your time for a few reasons. Firstly, as a cultural artifact with a glimpse of a segment of society that you just don't get exposure to on a daily basis. It's a hodgepodge of fairly ugly souls living in really ugly shacks that you can't imagine people actually living in. You feel for the people, and you end up liking a lot of them. Not all of them, however. Some of them are loud mouths. Secondly, for a fan of traditional folk music, I enjoyed hearing a lot of the locals singing songs straight from the notebooks of Woody Guthrie (or a Woody clone) with voices shaped by cigarettes and coal dust. Speaking of black lung as an occupational hazard for coal miners--I fear there's a similar danger at the hotel where I work. Knights Inn lung? And speaking of the music, there was a scene where a guy sang one song about "Sam, the Shuttle Drivin' Man" that featured a John Ratzenberger spotting. And let me stop you before you start in with your back talk--it was definitely him. Thirdly, this is a very well-done narrative with a human struggle that seems to get more and more complicated and dangerous as it goes. No narrator, few interview segments. This is just the camera mingling with these people and their situation. The style (or lack of style) puts the viewer right into the heart of the coal miners' struggles, keeping things right in your face the entire time. There are a few slow moments, but for the most part, this is really good stuff.