Harlan County, USA

Documentaries have finally come of age. Such films have been around since the silent era and some of those silent era documentaries are still quite entertaining today. NANOOK OF THE NORTH is still enjoyably riveting even after eight decades as are thousands of classic documentaries of the past such as TUESDAY'S CHILDREN and SALESMAN. However, it has only been in the last ten years that documentaries have proven to draw solid box office in theaters. The reason that they make money these days is that documentaries have finally demonstrated that they can inform, entertain and even make people laugh. This devastated the stereotypes that existed in the past that pigeonholed documentaries with unfair stigmas as being boring. Because of such renewed (or, possibly, first time) interest in documentaries these days, many of the classic documentaries of the past have emerged on DVD to find new audiences.

The 1976 Academy Award winning documentary HARLAN COUNTY, USA is one such documentary film that made a huge stir when released, then faded off into obscurity until being recently revived and re-released by the good folks over at Criterion Collection.

HARLAN COUNTY, USA covers the lengthy 1973-1975 strike of the United Mine Workers of America in Kentucky and their clashes with the anti-union power companies that sought to crush attempts at the mine workers desire for collective bargaining.

In today's world, unions have become associated with greed, corruption, impediments to capitalism and the free market. To a degree, this is not inaccurate if the union leadership has opted to seek putting its own benefit ahead of the general body which is a common problem when greed and power start to cloud the judgment of those who have seemingly lost (or decided to ignore) the focus of their fiduciary duty.

When watching HARLAN COUNTY, USA and viewing the images of people living in shacks with no running water or electricity because the mining company deems such things as "luxuries" when providing living arrangements for workers, it becomes incredibly difficult not to sympathize with the mine workers looking to improve their lot in life. They aren't asking for extravagances. They are asking for a livable wage and working conditions. Furthermore, when the documentary takes a look back at the strikes of the 1930's and the abominable condition children would have to deal with when working in the mine 18 hours a day, a cold shiver will run up and down the viewer's spine. Yes, one of the main reasons there is little sympathy for unions today is because people now take for granted what will occur with the absence of union protection. Then again, most union jobs have gone overseas so labor laws can be skirted with abandon, including those laws which were designed to protect children.

If anything, HARLAN COUNTY, USA shows us a chilling glimpse of a world that existed only thirty years ago. It should be noted that thirty years may yield a change in philosophy, trends, ideology and education, but thirty years is nowhere near enough time to change human nature. When looking at the scenes in this documentary where strike breakers casually pull out baseball bats and .44 Magnums in order to destroy strikers, a chill will break out up and down your spine. After all, how much of the heart of human nature can change in thirty years? The only thing that really has changed is that the law no longer turns a blind eye to such vigilantism. Such violence still lurks in people's hearts and could break out anytime. Thirty years ago, when the last of the Americans fled Saigon and brought and end to the Vietnam conflict, no one believed that the United States would commit ground troops into a difficult situation, but Iraq has shown that such a past can turn around and become the present or future.

HARLAN COUNTY, USA may only have been released thirty years ago, but when viewing the documentary, some may believe they are looking at something that occurred 100 years ago and in a foreign land. This film is an incredibly stirring look at life in a forgotten segment of America that still exists today, but has been dropped down a black hole by those who have decided to ignore some of the inconvenient truths of what exists in the labor world.