Filmed between 1972 and 1976 documenting the coal miners in Kentucky and their thirteen-month strike for decent working conditions.
“I’m a politician first, a filmmaker second” –Barbara Kopple.
The music is quite prevalent. “Which side are you on?”
She’s on the miners’ side which makes the film one sided and bias.
Examples:
-“scabs” are the “bad guys”
- police are compared to the “pinkertons.
- Miners and wives=heroes and Duke Power Company=Villains.
No attempt to be objective.
Editing: Links a police cruiser of 1973 with a tank from the 1940s era of bloody Harlan County, trying to show that things have not changed much over the years.
Showing sympathy with the workers through guilt by association.
Only mine workers families shown revealing only one side of a very complicated issue.
