Harlan County, USA

★★★★

(1976)

Barbara Kopple’s wonderful Harlan County, USA gallantly documents the battle of a group of coal miners and their struggling families against the Brookside Mine and Prep Plant in Harlan County, Kentucky in 1973. Grittily, candidly and deftly shot by Kopple and her team the film holds up amazingly well today and shows just how lazy we’ve gotten in especially in mainstream documentary making over the past few decades. The high entertainment, spoon feeding, cut and paste approach of the Micheal Moore’s of the factual film world couldn’t hold a candle to Kopple’s film which starkly and poetically hits hard.

Controversial on it’s release, the film divided audiences with what some saw as a one sided approach to documentary film making. However the film’s portrayal of the small town’s struggle for recognition puts them in the company of people who are just as baffled at the situation as they are. In one of the films best scenes the miners take their strike to the streets of New York and a beautiful conversation between an NYPD officer and a miner unfolds with the kind of true awkward sweetness and empathy which is so seldom seen in film.

Shot in noisy 16mm and backed by a beautiful soundtrack of Appalachian folk music, the film is chock full of incredible people, non more so than the group of miners wives who keep the sway of the films heavy politics in check with heart and often, unintentional comedy. Even in the most viscous moments of Harlan County, USA (of which there are many) it’s the character and bravery of the people which remains in the memory.

A wonderful and resonant watch.