Matewan

For material that promotes fast-paced classroom discussion, Sayle's MATEWAN can't be beat. He is a fascinating writer and producer; MATEWAN is, however, the best Sayles' movie I've seen on all counts--writing, acting, photography, and historical content. Some reviewers here have called it slow-moving. I have watched it at least 5 times and find it just as compelling now as when I viewed it the first time. Buy it--you won't be sorry!

Given what we learned about the peacefulness of our neighbor to the north in Bowling For Columbine, it's ironic that this most bloody-minded of Sayles films should be released there and not here. No other film I can think of more clearly explains the tragic connections between violence and class politics in American history. Lefty types such as myself have always loved this film, but I know a good many conservatives who do as well. The story of the little guy fighting for his very survival against the bully is always a compelling one, never more so than here. And for those who think the bad guys in this film are TOO evil--I have relatives from coal country and they assure me that if anything, the movie could have gone even further. More than in any of his other films of the 1980s, Sayles is just so brutally honest here about the necessities and the strange accidents that can lead us toward a better future, though with much to suffer in the meantime. A dead-solid American classic.

Supposedly Sayles has recorded commentary for an American release of a widescreen dvd, but I can find no evidence of its being produced any time soon.

Using the coal miners' unionization efforts of the 1920s as his springboard, Sayles explores one of the dark truths at the heart of free-market capitalism: the unblinking willingness of those in power to crush--physically and spiritually--those who work.
Sayles' gritty realism, the gaunt faces of the actual citizens of West Virginia who serve as extras in the film, Haskell Wexler's recreation of a long-gone era, and, of course, the great performances all around, drive that dark point home. Sayles' script, although a little long-winded at points, illustrates well how employers pit worker against worker, worker against scab, scab against scab. In fact, the workers do as much violence to each other as the bosses do to them. Don't dismiss this as a masnifesto disguised as a film. In the tradition of On the Waterfront (also based on an actual event), the characters, situations, and dialogue are all convincing.

This is a great film but be sure to see it on video, not DVD, as others have pointed out.

Rocco Dormarunno, author of THE FIVE POINTS