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Chris Cooper,
Chris Cooper,
Will Oldham,
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John Sayles,
John Sayles
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: Hallmark
: Drama, Independent, Politics and Social Issues
: 142 min.
: English
: English
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Independent filmmaker John Sayles creates one of his more artistic works with this period feature about a volatile 1920s labor dispute in the town of Matewan, West Virginia. Matewan is a coal town where the local miners' lives are controlled by the powerful Stone Mountain Coal Company. The company practically owns the town, reducing workers' wages while raising prices at the company-owned supply and grocery. The citizens' land and homes are not their own, and the future seems dim. When the coal company brings immigrants and minorities to Matewan as cheaper labor, union organizer Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper) scours the town to unite all miners in a strike. As the crisis grows, strikers and their families are removed from their homes by two coal company mercenaries (Kevin Tighe and Gordon Clapp, both also featured in Sayles' Eight Men Out (1988)), and the situation heads toward a final shootout on Matewan's main street . Sayles' simple but telling screenplay brings to light the treatment of immigrants and minorities in the early 20th century South, and it draws sharp parallels between the Matewan labor battle and the Civil War some 50 years earlier. The visual feel of the film is real West Virginia backwoods, with much of the credit going to legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler, whose warm, rustic lighting belies the anxiety and terror felt by the oppressed townspeople. ~ Norm Schrager, All Movie Guide
Read GreenCine's exclusive interview with David Strathairn: "Film is Our Literature." "With a 25-year career in some 70 films and TV shows, the prolific Strathairn is one of the finest contemporary actors who remains largely unknown to most viewers," writes Sean Axmaker, introducing his interview, before adding, "Good Night, and Good Luck. could change that."
You might also enjoy:
Eight Men Out
Set around the same time period but in a wholly different landscape, Sayles' next film hit a home run
Brassed Off
The struggles of British miners (armed with horns instead of guns) is the focus of this benevolent drama
Norma Rae
You'll like Sally Field, you'll really like her in this rousing union protest story
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| Great message, true story
by SBarnett
August 25, 2006 - 3:33 PM PDT
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2 out of 2 members found this review helpful
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| A beautiful film by John Sayles with a great message--worker solidarity in the face of organized capital--that's sadly lost in today's anti-union consumer culture. And the fact that the film is based on a true story makes it even more resonant. What holds the film back is that the characters seldom move beyond the barest essentials: the noble and committed union organizer, the young man in search of himself, the grieving widow with a tight grip on her heart, the simple-minded loose woman, the callow hired thugs, the double-dealing villain, the hard-working immigrants. "Few Clothes" Johnson (James Earl Jones) is the best role, and Jones revels in it. (It's no surprise that John Sayles gave himself the role of a fire and brimstone preacher.) Certain points are made, made again, and then made again even more dramatically, such as how playing music helps unite the miners, that a lighter touch would make the film more incisive and less sentimental. Sayles aims for John Ford in "The Grapes of Wrath," and comes so close to the mark. Still, the production and cinematography are excellent, and the narrow hollows of Appalachia are rendered in loving detail. Definitely worth seeing. |
| Remembering Sago, WVA
by SMattoon
January 5, 2006 - 12:24 AM PST
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4 out of 4 members found this review helpful
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January 5, 2006 - 12 coal miners' bodies were pulled from the Sago mine today, 44 hours after an explosion that sealed them in. The tragedy was amplified by a premature and false announcement, a day earlier, that all the trapped miners were alive, raising jubilation and hopes of their rescue. One miner was eventually rescued, but for the friends and family of the other 12, the reversal of news was devastating.
Watching John Sayle's Matewan today gave me a deeper appreciation and empathy for what the miners and their community live and feel in the shadow of an unforgiving and dangerous line of work. While the conditions working in coal mines in the 1920's were undoubtably much more dangerous and foul, today's news reminds us all that the miners who extract coal from the earth are putting their life on the line to give us light - coal provides nearly half the electricity consumed in the U.S.
The struggle between a fledging union chapter and the Stone Mountain Mining Co. portrayed in the movie is a proud hommage to those workers who first organized to improve working conditions for miners. Today's tragic news revives and expands the hommage that Americans ought pay with their thoughts as these miners' families mourn their loss. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.83)
167 Votes
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