‘A contract is what we’re fighting for…’
As someone in the midst of industrial action who is from a coal mining town, the concept of striking is in my blood. My dad was a miner. My uncles were miners. I live in a town that is still decimated by the closure of the coal mines. For me, the decision to strike is an easy one. As a teacher, I can either accept that education is something to be devalued and underfunded or I can make a sacrifice now for the good of the future. If not for robust strike action from past teachers there are many benefits that I now enjoy that would be closed off for me and my peers. Harlan County U.S.A. is the story of a coal mining town that stood up to their overlords over a period of thirteen months. It is a story of struggle and conflict. Most of all, it is essential viewing for anyone who would stand up and fight for what they believe in…
In 1972 young first-time filmmaker Barbara Kopple headed to Harlan County to make an independent film about a vote to elect a new union leader in a coal mining town. The film she ended up making is a poignant and often heartbreaking account of how the last resort of industrial action can tear a town apart and somehow bring it closer together all at the same time. A key text in the cinema verite movement, the idea that cinema should be as real as possible, Harlan County U.S.A. features no narrative or intervention from Kopple, instead it wisely allows the miners and their families to tell their own story.
The key to the success of this film is that Kopple is always keen to explore the rich culture of working-class communities – often through live musical performances (which are excellent throughout) – and this acknowledgement that working people have personalities beyond being downtrodden is groundbreaking even though it shouldn’t be.
Harlan County U.S.A. deservedly won the Best Documentary Oscar and its message is still prescient. Only together can a community thrive.