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Matewan (1987)
Runtime: 2 hrs 22 mins
Synopsis: The year is 1920, the setting Matewan, West Virginia, where the town's coal miners labor under miserable, unhealthy conditions. Enter Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper), a rebellious union leader who wants to organize the West Virginian miners, as well as the Italians and blacks brought in as... The year is 1920, the setting Matewan, West Virginia, where the town's coal miners labor under miserable, unhealthy conditions. Enter Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper), a rebellious union leader who wants to organize the West Virginian miners, as well as the Italians and blacks brought in as workers. Based on a real massacre in Matewan that started the 1920-1921 Coal War between miners and coal company thugs, MATEWAN subverts the convention of Westerns like HIGH NOON. Kenehan is not the drifter who will save the miners with his skill at a six-shooter; rather, he is a pacifist whose message of non-violent resistance the miners have difficulty accepting. The story is divided into four parts, alternating between times when Kenehan prevails and times when the instinct for revenge against the coal company wins out. The first large-scale historical epic made by director John Sayles (who once worked in the Meat Packer's Union), MATEWAN is a subtle strike against the anti-union climate of the 1980s and a moving portrait of the difficulties of collective action. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, William Oldham, David Strathairn
Reviews
For all of the binary simplicity of the film’s moral structure, the question of violence, its utility or even necessity, is the great ambiguity at the film’s center.
An old-fashioned movie that will make the hearts of all idealists truly sing.
marks a turning point in the auteur's career, a transition between a teller of personal tales and a conveyor of universal ones.
Sayles is a perfectionist with a great ear and eye for historical detail, and Matewan is as rich in it as a film can be.
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by: 22cute 8/26/03


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