Harlan county usa documentary. Harlan County U.S.A. streaming: where to watch online? 2022-10-28

Harlan county usa documentary Rating: 5,4/10 1623 reviews

Harlan County USA is a 1976 documentary film directed by Barbara Kopple that chronicles the ongoing struggle of coal miners in Harlan County, Kentucky as they fight for better working conditions and union representation. The film follows the miners and their families as they engage in a violent labor dispute with the Eastover Mining Company, which is owned by the wealthy and powerful Blair family.

The film begins in 1973, when the miners go on strike to demand better wages, benefits, and working conditions. The Eastover Mining Company responds by hiring armed guards and using violent tactics to break the strike. The miners are subjected to physical attacks, intimidation, and threats of violence, and the local community is divided as some side with the company and others with the union.

As the strike drags on, the miners and their families face extreme hardship. They are unable to pay their bills and are forced to rely on food donations from supporters. The film also shows the toll that the strike takes on the miners' personal lives, as they struggle with financial and emotional stress.

Despite the challenges they face, the miners remain determined and continue to fight for their rights. The film features powerful scenes of the miners singing, praying, and marching together in solidarity. It also shows the role that women play in the struggle, as they support their husbands and fathers on the picket line and organize community rallies.

Harlan County USA is a poignant and powerful documentary that brings attention to the struggles of coal miners and their families. It is a testament to the resilience and determination of working people who are fighting for justice and dignity in the face of great adversity. The film has won numerous awards and has been widely hailed as a classic of documentary film.

Harlan County, U.S.A.

harlan county usa documentary

And then the almost certainly superior new regime lets our protagonists down as well, just as much or even more. Kopple did provide facts and statistics about the companies and the workers. We can feel Kopple and her crew in the room, not observing but sharing the anger and fear of the miners and their families. Overall, the movie was well made, yet felt slightly off. OPINION Over-all, I believe that the document is a highly essential piece that depicts the realities of one of the poorest working classes in the country- the coal miners.

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Harlan County U.S.A. streaming: where to watch online?

harlan county usa documentary

The strike, which lasts more than a year, frequently becomes violent, with guns produced on both sides, and one miner is even killed in a conflict. Retrieved February 28, 2017. Harlan County, USA is a 1976 Oscar-winning documentary film covering the "Brookside Strike" ,an effort of 180 coal miners and their wives against the Duke Power Company-owned Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine and Prep Plant in Harlan County, southeast Kentucky in 1973. The Making of Harlan County U. Last accessed: February 14, 2011. Depicting a company, and perhaps its strikers, making concessions is a tough ask.

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Review and analysis: Harlan County U.S.A.

harlan county usa documentary

I have been so fortunate, and with others in such privation! Who are those lyrics directed at? I used this documentary to show my students what life was like for blue color workers before OSHA and employee protections from state and federal regulations. Thank God they were on our side. In the documentary, his mother can be seen breaking down during his funeral, screaming and being carried away by male attendees. Court injunctions allow, at least at some point in this conflict, only six people on a picket line at once. New York, New York: Criterion Collection, 2006. Untidily and appropriately, Harlan County ends with the actual who-knows muddle of history and actuality.


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Harlan County, USA

harlan county usa documentary

As shown in the film, the miners experienced some of the worst living conditions. Seeing that the miners are seemingly eager to find work, the company willingly exploited them by providing them with dangerous working conditions and low wages. DVD extra; appears on Harlan County U. In one scene, Scott pulls a pistol from her bra. Billy Elliot was directed by Stephen Daldry, and 1st published in the year 2000. At a climactic moment in the strike, the film crew is attacked, along with miners and their wives on the picket line. But gradually, it looks as though Collins and Scott have done this type of thing too many times.

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Films in ReviewHarlan County, USA

harlan county usa documentary

That question always comes up too. So much sorrow, so much to do. Someone asks that one every time. Almost of all do not have sufficient water and food, among other basic necessities. Kopple is not an activist but a storyteller; she tells stories that move people to act.

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Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)

harlan county usa documentary

Each has a dogged determination — they seem to relish this conflict — and a considerable level of charm. Kopple felt it was important to continue filming or pretend to, even when they were out of film because the presence of the crew and staff support seemed to help keep the violence down. Eventually the police will clear the roads, and most of the strikers will go home. And the second student? Another haunting scene in Harlan County comes near the end, when the strike has turned bloody and a young miner is killed. She is also, often, the product of prosperous political conservatives. Gary Arnold, in his Washington Post review, According to the 1976 New York Times account, Kopple had, prior to her Harlan County stint, spent time in Ohio and West Virginia coal territories interviewing miners battling black-lung disease. The person who asks that question is almost always a prosperous political conservative, or at least the child of prosperous political conservatives.


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Analysis of the documentary Harlan County, USA, Sample of Essays

harlan county usa documentary

Deepest, darkest Kentucky: generational poverty, generations of social inequality and economic disadvantage, hardship rooted down in the very bedrock. If the abused and the brutalized can just leave, how come they hardly ever do? And Harlan County was that place. Here is the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, as it were. In 1976 this was a ground-breaking film that deserved and won the Oscar for Best Documentary. It also highlights the lack of response of the United Mine Workers of America UWMA towards the plight of the workers. The camera isn't merely an observer; it's a mourner too. To get a contract.


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Playback: Barbara Kopple's 'Harlan County USA'

harlan county usa documentary

Kopple and her crew are rarely seen or heard in the film, but they are present in every frame. Here is something like unto a primal scene, featuring the proliferation of want and ignorance, cruelty and injustice. They are deposed and replaced, after a mighty battle. Several times she is seen publicly chastising those she feels have been absent from the picket lines. It is a real eye-opener for the Gen Z students. I personally thought that the film was great in several ways, scripts, film techniques.

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