Harlan County War (2000)

You won't be disappointed!

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Harlan County War is a rare little TV movie that takes a partly fictional look at the union wars in rural Kentucky during the 1970's, when a plucky band of coal miners and their wives took to the picket line in attempt to establish better working and living conditions. The story and title of the film have roots in the union wars of the 1930's, which set the stage for this tale. Holly Hunter plays Ruby Kincaid, wife of Silas (Ted Levine) a miner who suffers through the harsh labor everyday. The townspeople are tired of the injuries, the deaths and the deadly black lung infections, and are given reluctant hope when compassionate union official Warren Jakopovich (Stellen Skarsgard) arrives to their county, promising change. Many locals are skeptical due to past corruption and disloyalty, but soon the company gets nasty and they realize that Jakopovich may be their only chance. Hunter is as fired up as she always is, her accent thicker than the moonshine everyone swills. I tracked this film down for Levine (Skarsgard too), and this is one of the best roles he's ever gotten. He's usually in character parts like the violent thug, stern general, gruff cowboy or yes, the skin stealing serial killer. Here he's just a plain rural family man, a good hearted fellow who wants the best for his kin and county. Levine works wonders playing it straight here and I wish he'd get thrown more meaty and down to earth roles like this. Skarsgard can jump between being the most terrifying psychopath to the most comforting, sympathetic characters, and plays Jakopovich with compassion and dogged determination. The character building scenes between the three actors is brilliant. I feel like there's a longer edit out there somewhere, because it jumps a bit and forgets to address one plot turn entirely, but alas it's a tough one to affordably track down and this is the only version I could get. It's made for TV and that shows at the seams sometimes, but it's still solid drama about something important, and crafted very well.

Harlan County War is excellent fiction about a labor conflict, although based on true events. The fight of the coal miners in Harlan County has become illustrious, among others due to the documentary Harlan County USA by director Kopple. We live in the mid-seventies, and the coal miners want to organize. The corporation does not accept the union as a personnel representative and refuses to sign a contract. The miners live in company houses under primitive conditions, and the facilities such as the local grocery are company property. A union organizer of the UMW is sent to the village, settles in a motel and tries to mobilize the people. THowever, the main character is Ruby, a miners wife, who more or less against her will gets drawn into the strike activities. Her father is also a miner, and still remembers the bloody conflicts from decades earlier. He is a convinced union man, just as Ruby's husband. The father suffers from the disease black lung, caused by the uncontrolled coal dust in the mines. Eventually he dies from suffocation. The strikers form a picket line, and the corporation starts to hire scabs. Both sides soon develop an aggressive and violent attitude. Shots are fired at the picketers, the houses of scabs are besmeared and cars are blown up. The local police is present, but barely controls the developments. These scenes are based on true events, but apparently dramatized and adjusted to the story line. The climax is probably a stand out, when large groups of picketers and scabs, both heavily armed, confront each other. A shootout is only just averted. Finally after a year or so the miners win their contract. It is sometimes unclear whether the violence is authentic, or a setup of the miners in order to lure the media. Anyway, in case of doubt the film takes sides with the miners, which adds to its emotional credibility. Subjectivity seems justified in our modern society, where the message in the media is dominated by the advertisers (which are not you and me). A further quality of the film is the insight into the organizing committee, which appears to be run by a tiny group of activists (mainly the organizer and Ruby), even though their support group is much larger. The acting of Hunter is fresh and convincing. I highly recommend Harlan County War. Having said that, there is a wide variety of competing films. Let me just name Germinal (France), Subterra (Chile), Salt of the Earth (the primogenitor of this type of films, and banned during the age of the McCarthy terror, when American democracy suffered violent blows. Salt of the Earth is still rarely mentioned, and apparently its reputation has not yet been completely rehabilitated. It would be good Americanism to have a look), Matewan, and Harlan County USA. You might also be interested in the film Sonnensucher, about uranium miners. It belongs to the wave of Aufbau (build up) films, that appeared in the Soviet zone of Germany, and shows the problems resulting from nationalization - including sabotage.

As most films made in Hollywood are, this film had a certain degree of fiction attached to it. Even so, I did enjoy the acting and the scenes moved along very nicely. However, as much as I enjoyed Holly Hunter's acting, I really don't enjoy seeing her on screen considering her extreme left-wing views and hate of anti-communists. She was one of a handful of actors that refused to honor the great Director, Elia Kazan, when he was honored by the Academy. What did Kazan do wrong in her mind? He identified known communists in the film industry when ordered to do so by not only the film companies but also under penalty of perjury by Congress. Kazan did his Constitutional duty by identifying those that were acting in the capacity as agents of the Soviet Union. So, Holly Hunter protested Kazan for something that happened 50 years ago. I think there are many fine actresses that could have played Hunter's role and because of her anti-American positions, I think the role should have been given to someone else. Otherwise, I would have rated the film higher.Lastly, the closing epilogue states that only half of coal miners are Unionized, as if that was a crime in of itself. The reality is that non-unionized coal workers prosper as well if not better and clearly the film makers were trying to suggest otherwise inspite of this fact. So, yes, the film was made as partly a piece of propaganda. The fact is that since the 1950's the UMWA (the Union in the film) has been steadily losing ground in a very quiet war against non-union coal producers. By 1980 the industry of coal production amounted to more than fifty percent of non-union workers. However, even with the little propaganda and Holly Hunter's inclusion in the film, I still recommend this film.

Big management grinds poor workers with boot heel followed by rebellion and unionization. There's nothing new in Showtime's telling of this old story about hollow dwelling coal miners in Harlan County, KY. Nonetheless, Hunter bails out this well made but potentially monotonous film with her powerful performance as a spunky and dauntless coal miner's wife. A must see for Hunter fans.