J&C's Review Feed

Jeff Egnaczyk's review of A Consumer's Republic by Lizabeth Cohen (4.5/5)

Wed, 05 May 2010 19:14:24 GMT

Here are notes I took from Lizabeth Cohen's A Consumer's Republic. Some added emphasis from me is bolded.

Chapter 1.

The history of the 20th century consumer republic is the battle between the citizen consumer and the purchaser consumer. The former fought for rights, standards, and fairness; the latter wanted purchasing power. Consumers strove for representation alongside business and labor in the 1930s New Deal programs and agencies. The first wave consumer movement took place in the Progressive Era; the second wave was in the 1930s and 1940s. Women and blacks were the primary citizen consumers. Housewives fought high prices, for instance, organizing meat boycotts in 1935. Blacks in Harlem, the Black Belt, and Chicago organized boycotts with the slogan "don't buy where you can't work". Cooperatives were a way to empower black businesses. Business was predictably hostile towards consumer councils, often red-baiting. Chevrolet was an exception with "From Dawn to Sunset".

Chapter 2.

In WWII the citizen consumer took over. The federal government took action to combat inflation with the Office of Price Administration & Civilian Supply (OPA under the War Production Board), created under the Emergency Price Control Act. This act set up a "General Maximum Price" on 6,000 commodities. The "responsible consumer was promoted to support the war effort. Such a consumer would not pay more than the maximum price for goods. They would conserve and recycle. A promise was made: "Conserve now, spend after the war". Consumer guides were published, pledges and mottos created. Women stepped up to enforce regulations, lead consumer organizations, and volunteer in implementing price controls.

Blacks were still denied access to consumer citizenship. Here we see Cohen's point that the consumer and the citizen are linked. Even black soldiers were denied access. In Harlem, black areas missed out on OPA protections. Civil rights leaders still saw the OPA and price controls as a way of being recognized as consumers and then citizens. Boycotts and protests now focused on businesses that didn't serve blacks, whereas before they were boycotting those that didn't hire them. At the end of the war people wanted to keep the OPA.

As the war ended, labor sided with the consumer movement over fears that inflation could eat up wage gains. Price controls mostly destroyed though. The consumer battle continued in reconversion.

Chapter 3.

After the war, mass consumption was promoted as the key to increased prosperity. This policy of consumption reconciled the difference between the citizen and purchaser. Thrift was now un-American. The citizen now bought instead of defending consumer rights. New house construction fueled a new mass consumption economy. The Veteran's Administration with the GI Bill and the Federal Housing Administration subsidized mortgages. Here we see government directing housing policy. Consumer credit and borrowing went up. The federal government linked mass consumption with political freedom as a way to show capitalism was better than communism. Capitalism was better at creating equality, the propaganda said. (Three such propaganda films were: "Despotism", "How to Lose What We Have", "Destination Earth"). Mass consumption was about creating a bigger pie rather than competing in a zero-sum world.

Traditional roles regain their dominance. The consumer movement was co-opted or red-baited. Women were relegated back to traditional roles. Businesses started targeting men. "Female", since housewives were the leaders, was used to diminish the consumer movement. The GI Bill discriminated against women veterans and helped men more because there were more male veterans. Denying someone full entry into the military is another way of denying them equality. The tax code was remade to favor single earner families, the single earner having to be the male (see page 146's discussion of the tax code).

Unions were more interesting in purchasing power than in having a say in the business (Fordist Compromise, Treaty of Detroit). The Taft-Hartley Act puts shackles on unions. The GI Bill helped the classes of people who were already ahead get more ahead.

Chapter 4.

Blacks returned from the war looking for the "Double-V", victory abroad and civil rights at home. The link between citizenship and consumption opened avenues to fight. They were denied equality of access to markets, worst of all in housing and education.

Chapter 5.

The rise of suburbia created a new market for mass consumption. The home became a mass consumer commodity. The suburbs exacerbated segmentation and inequality between classes and races in the same way the GI Bill did. Property values become important. The FHA and VA favored single family housing in areas with few minorities and lower class families. This means the federal government discriminated based on class and race. It means it engineered a way of life. The government decided that home building was the way to go. Programs created segregated, class based zoning. Localism, where property taxes pay for services, created vast inequalities especially in schooling.

Chapter 6.

Central urban marketplaces shifted to suburban shopping centers by the late 50s. These were the new community centers. Suburban malls could exclude the worst of urban areas - vagrants, prostitutes, poor, minorities, disruptive elements. Shopping centers were feminized spaces but the focus on the family experience meant men were making the purchasing decisions, reaffirming traditional roles again. Helped by cars these centers killed central business districts. Downtown business would try to harness state power with consumption laws and federal renewal money. In the suburbs public space was privatized. Commerce conflicted with community. Free speech may offend customers. Several court cases sought to settle this conflict: Amalgamated Food Employees Union Local 590 vs. Logan Valley Plaza Inc. (1950) and Marsh vs. Alabama (1946). In the latter, the "Marsh Doctrine" gave first amendment rights precedent over private property. Private property can be the functional equivalent of public space. Later, in Lloyd vs. Tanner (1972), leaflets were considered unwarranted infringement upon private property rights. Justice Marshall warned of private space overtaking the public. In Prune Yard Shopping Center vs. Robbins (1980) the court left it to the states but reaffirmed that first amendment did not guarantee access. Though it affirmed private property rights it decreased liberty with respect to the first amendment.

Chapter 7.

Product competition lead to new marketing methods. Product obsolescence became the garment industry's foundation. In the automotive industry it lead to constant redesign. Marketers embraced market segmentation. For example, David Yankelovich divided buyers into types who bought on cost, quality, or prestige. "Lifestyle branding" and "target marketing" aimed to get clusters of customers (sub cultures) rather than selling commodities on the mass market. An example of this was cable TV's rise over "Really Big Networks" that could serve everyone. On page 296:

By the time Thomas Robertson of Harvard Business School published his marketing text, Consumer Behavior, in 1970, he would conclude a key chapter with the statement, "The basic dilemma, in summary, is whether to adopt a policy of market segmentation or aggregation—whether to build generalized or ambiguous appeals into a product so that consumers can perceive it as they choose, or whether to concentrate on a specific segment, thus deliberately excluding a given proportion of consumers. Will 80 percent of a small market segment produce more revenue than 10 percent of a mass market?" The thrust of his book—and other writing of the era—was a resounding "yes." Note that although Robertson still entertained a mass market option in 1970, he acknowledged sufficient variation in consumer preferences to urge mass marketers to fashion "generalized or ambiguous appeals."

This was considered the democratization of the market (pg 309). It gave sub groups more voice but also pulled them into the commercial market and co-opted them. The power structures stayed the same. Social class became a lifestyle choices rather than economics (think rich hicks). Gender segmentation played on traditional gender roles & stereotypes. Age, race, and ethnicity were also targeted. Brand indoctrination sought to target children to get them in early. The African-American was a largely untapped market at the time. New responsiveness from national businesses killed black business. Business decided to create another market rather than trying to incorporate blacks into masses. The connection to modern political campaigning is obvious.

Chapter 8.

Third wave consumerism sought to protect consumers from new products. It wanted safety, informed consumers, consumer choice, and a voice in products. The era saw the rise of Ralph Nader. Twenty-five regulatory laws were passed between 1967 and 1973. With the "Keynesian commitment", demand was backed by government action. The three demands of the Third Wave were to 1) protect consumer in marketplace, 2) reorient government regulatory authority toward public interest, and 3) give the consumer political representation, "binding consumer and citizen ever closer". One and two were helped by the "responsiveness of the courts to product liability suits". Three failed in its attempt to get a cabinet level federal agency for consumers.

Market segmentation was linked to discontent because of more specific desires. If you didn't get exactly what you wanted you were not happy. Segmentation made it easier to mobilize distinct interests and create grassroots movements. This coincided with second wave feminism, civil rights, and war on poverty.

The rise of "consumer entrepreneurial politics" saw pro-consumer, anti-business activists get into the media, labor, non-profits, and congress as politicians and staffers. The plight of the low income consumer was explored by these liberal-minded activists. This is similar to what happened with women and blacks. Getting equal treatment and a voice in consumption was a key to fully realizing citizenship in America.

The broader consumer movement did not question mass consumption and capitalism. It used the tactics of radicals but wanted to enhance, not tear down, the system.

Government policy shifted to deregulation and privatization under Ford, Carter, and Reagan. Carter rejected consumption and the 70s saw demand collapse. Regulation was seen as a burden. The tide turned against the government and faith in the market's ability to regulate itself rose. Keynesian policies aimed at consumer demand were swapped for Reaganonics supply side policies like tax cuts to stimulate growth and investment. These focused on capital investment, not mass consumption, hoping that concentrated wealth would trickle down. The message shifted from the "Consumer Bill of Rights" changed to economic freedom. The Clinton government would view citizens as customers. Despite all of that, there has been a revival of government in financial regulation with the failures of Enron and Worldcom or airport security after 9/11.

Jeff Egnaczyk's review of Being John Malkovich by Spike Jonze (3.0/5)

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:46:06 GMT

Right away, even before anything trippy arrives, you can tell that Being John Malkovich movie is going to be odd. John Cusak is Craig Schwartz, a puppeteer who sets out to look for a job at the behest of his wife, Lotte (a well hidden Cameron Diaz); a woman with a pet collection that includes a monkey, parrot, and ferret. Craig ends up at an office on the 7th and a half floor with 5 foot high ceilings and a secretary whom can't seem to understand anyone. He quickly falls in love with his egotistical office mate Maxine (Catherine Keener).

It's only then that the movie turns into a modern fantasy story. Schwartz find a portal to actor John Malkovich's mind hidden behind a cabinet. After he tells Maxine she devises a way to make money off of it. Lotte, on the other hand, becomes obsessed with it.

It's clear that Being John Malkovich is on the odd side. What was less clear to me - and I think this is my deficiency - was what, if any, deeper meaning there was. The best theory I can come up with is that Schwartz does his best work when he acts vicariously through others, whether they be puppets or famous actors. Maybe the story is about different forms of transformation. Lotte comes to crave the transformation into Malcovich so much that she contemplates changing her own body. We know Craig does better as someone else. Maxine never gets into Malcovich's mind but her personality changes more than anyone. Later in the movie we find others using Malcovich to transform their age into youth.

Jeff Egnaczyk's review of Big Fan by Robert D. Siegel (3.0/5)

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:30:10 GMT

Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt) and his buddy Sal (Kevin Corrigan) are a sad lot. Their lives revolve around the New York Giants. Paul builds up an anonymous reputation on a call-in talk show as a defender of the realm. Sal adores him for it but doesn't realize it takes Paul hours of writing and practicing his speech before he can call in to rip apart nemesis "Philadelphia Phil" (Michael Rapaport's voice). For every home game the duo rides out to the Meadowlands to watch the game...in the parking lot. The two follow Paul's favorite player, Quantrell Bishop, to a strip club one night. After meeting him, things turn sour and Bishop beats Paul into a three day coma.

This is the part of the movie where our protagonist takes stock of his life and re-prioritizes the important things. Life isn't like a movie though. People don't change. They rationalize cognitive dissonance. In Paul's case, the Giants are all he has. The situation says something about sports fan-hood. He can't disown them because he has built his adult life around the franchise. That means when they're up, he's up; when they're down, he's down.

Jeff Egnaczyk's review of Downfall by Oliver Hirschbiegel (4.5/5)

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 20:25:26 GMT

Downfall is a dispiriting movie until you remember that you're watching the fall of the most evil empire of the 20th century. Still, watching a proud civilization crumble before you is depressing. Once majestic buildings are riddled with holes. Families scramble for cover through rubble. High ranking military officers relax their dress and take to the bottle. The vast records of an empire are set to fire. Again though, these are the Nazis.

It is not the simple fact that it's all coming down that is depressing. It's the fact that these people were so deluded. Not only did they buy into a heinous ideology but they convinced themselves of their leader's infallibility. As the Soviets drive into the heart of the Reich the military leadership continues to follow its maniacal leader. These are the leaders of one of the strongest militaries in the history of the world failing to see the writing on the wall. Downfall is a lesson about how group-think saps people of their abilities.

Hitler's ego is what destroyed Germany. In the scene made famous by a thousand internet parodies, Hitler learns from his generals that Steiner, the general he was resting his last hopes on, has failed to mount an attack. As he comes to the realization that all is lost Hitler scapegoats his generals.

Our generals are just a bunch of contemptible, disloyal cowards.

He believes everything Germany has gained was the result of his actions.

I never attended an academy, and yet I have conquered Europe all by myself

Only to have it taken away by others.

I've been betrayed and deceived from the very beginning

When generals come to him worried about the plight of the German people in Berlin Hitler treats them with scorn. The people failed him. They deserve whatever happens to them when the Soviets come rumbling through. He will let them suffer rather than surrender. Referencing 1918:

I went through that before and once is enough

The generals who are with Hitler in those last days are portrayed as sycophants, unable to break Hitler's psychological hold even though they know their forces are done for. Up to the very end most of them maintain their oath to the Fuhrer rather than to the German people - even after he has abandoned them with his suicide. As Berlin falls some Germans are smart enough to run for cover rather than stand as fodder during the vicious urban warfare. Bands of SS roam the city rounding up and executing those "traitors" and "deserters". At dinner Hitler speaks of the strong defeating the weak as natural. His ideology does not allow compassion for his people. The front lines are becoming younger but lack basic weaponry to put up a fight. To the certain death these new recruits are facing Hitler says "that's what young men are for". It is amazing that he can even muster platitudes about "the Reich" when it is clear his own legacy is all that matters to him. Hitler cares more about what will happen to his body when the Russians find it. He kills his dog, Blondi, with the same poison he takes his own life with. Goebbels, ever the coward, follows Hitler's example but lets his wife kill his children.

The main characters are like part of a World War II lesson plan. There are the truest of the true believers, Adolph Hitler and the black eyed Joseph Goebbels. Some of the leadership who somewhat disobyed Hitler are given better treatment (Albert Speer, Wilhelm Mohnke, Eva Braun's brother-in-law Hermann Fegelein, and the doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck). The generals Keitel, Jodl, Krebs, and Burgdorf barely leave the bunker. Goering and Himmler, who have escaped Berlin, draw Hitler's scorn for attempting to act without his permission. Otto Günsche is Hitler's aide to the end. The odd duo of Robert Ritter von Greim and Hanna Reitsch, who defy death to get back to the bunker.

Hitler oscillates between grim realization and absolute delusion. He actually finds out about Steiner pretty early in the film. At this point he knows it's over. Later on though, he conceives a plan for Karl Dönitz to retake oilfields in the same conversation in which he admits defeat. He simply doesn't understand how many troops he has, the Soviet position to the east, and, though the film doesn't go into this, the American response to any talk of anything but unconditional surrender. In a final episode of self deception Hitler walks out of the most dire briefing from General Weidling, a man almost executed for retreating against the Soviets but now the leader of the Berlin defense. Weidling informs Hitler and his generals that German forces can hold out for maybe a day. Hitler walks out of the room in a daze muttering "Wenck will come", in reference to a general who in no way could save the doomed city. Watching his shaking, twitching left hand it's clear that even before the revelation about Steiner he knew it was over. His ego keeps the truth down.

As it all collapses around them, the Germans in the bunker walk shell shocked through some of the most surreal scenes. Hitler, Eva Braun, and secretary Traudl Junge have a polite conversation about suicide. Hitler gives Junge, who seems to be the only person shown compassion by the Fuhrer, a poison capsule stating, "I'm so sorry I can't give you a better present" with no sense of irony. Later, as Junge walks through the bunker, we see dozens of officers openly discussing the best way to commit suicide. Earlier, Eva rounds up people in the bunker for an impromptu ball. In the large opulent hall of a government building women and officers dance. Earlier still, government documents rain down from buildings as the SS erases the regime's records. Forget your hatred of the Nazis, think about what it must have been like. The sense of doom as everything is crashing down. Not only everything they built but everything they had been taught, their ideology, their heroes, all gone. These people were seriously brainwashed.

Jeff Egnaczyk's review of Skins by Jamie Brittain (0.5/5)

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 10:13:36 GMT

I watched about five minutes of this British high school drama and had to turn it off out of annoyance.

Jeff Egnaczyk's review of Clerks by Kevin Smith (2.0/5)

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 10:08:55 GMT

I don't know what I expected out of Clerks. It's the film that made the world aware of Kevin Smith. It's an icon of the 90s. I liked the idea of such a small venue (a convenience store and a movie rental store) in a shortened time frame (one day), low-key, and black and white. It just didn't work for me though. The dialog felt ornate and excessive. While watching I realized that I may have found the father of years of Dawson's Creek conversations. Dante (Brian O'Halloran) was a little too quick to exasperation; Randal (Jeff Anderson) knew a little too much about everything. They weren't terrible and maybe if I had watched Clerks when it came out I would have found it new and interesting. It was cool to see the origins of Jay, who never shut up, and Silent Bob, with his one line.

Jeff Egnaczyk's review of Crips and Bloods: Made in America by Stacy Peralta (4.5/5)

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 09:48:00 GMT

It wouldn't have been hard to create a documentary about the Bloods and Crips that focused on turf wars and gun battles. Stacy Peralta and Sam George weren't looking to make a real life gangsta movie though. They wanted to trace the violence that plagues modern South Central, Los Angeles back to its inception.

The move out west for many African Americans came in the decades after the end of slavery. Away from the officially segregated and dangerously violent southeast blacks encountered a less racist and more economically viable existence. As the automotive industry - Ford, GM, Firestone - built up large plants in southern California blacks attained living standards that none had seen before. When the automotive industry fell on hard times and pulled out conditions worsened. Racism was less severe but it still existed. Segregation wasn't official policy but neighborhoods were still separated by race. Police used force and intimidation to keep blacks within their proscribed areas. Anger seethed because of racist cops until it bubbled over in the Watts Race Riots of 1965.

This race riot was different from normal race riots because it was the African Americans doing the rioting instead of whites attacking blacks. One of the people the filmmakers interviewed a lot was Kumasi, an original member of the Slausons, a street gang that preceded the Bloods and Crips. Kamusi got into gangs at a time when gangs in the area were smaller and less violent, fighting with fists rather than guns. Kumasi powerfully describes the riot after the National Guard was summoned:

We were opportunistic fighters. We didn't need stockpiles. We got dilapidated buildings. There's a brick pile just waiting to be thrown at your ass. There's a dilapidated building. Ain't nobody living there. You didn't fix it. You didn't remove it. OK it ain't nothing but a pile of bricks any how. That's coming at you. That whole building, brick by brick. That's coming at your ass. That's what we're throwing at you. The building. The bullshit. The rubble. The rubbish that we live in. That's what coming at your ass. Those are our weapons. The filth. The funk. The shit you can't stand. That you defend. That you put a barrier between us and yourself. That's coming at you. That's coming at you.

As I was looking for a transcription of the quote I came across a description of it by Cynthia Fuchs as "the literal becoming metaphoric". The neighborhood's infrastructure was as decrepit as the system that created it.

As African Americans took action and became radicalized throughout the country, their leaders were taken down. Civil rights leaders were killed. Radicals were imprisoned. Kumasi asks, what filled the void? In a tone of revelation he claims that it was the Crips, founded by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams. As the gangs grew so did the War on Drugs. Imprisonment of black men skyrocketed. The film claims 28% of black men have been in jail at one time in their lives.

The discouraging part about this film is the interviews with gang members. These men understand what's going on. They may be thugs in one sense of the word but they're in no way dumb. In the shoddy system they live in you can fight to live in poverty or you can turn to a life of crime. Getting beat up by gang members, harassed by police, and barely getting by didn't appeal to them. They very simply and clearly present the rules that exist in their world. It is disheartening to see the discord between a nation that teaches children that they can do anything and a city where children grow up with no hope.

Most surprising was the candor with which many of the gang members described how they felt about not having a father around. It may strike some as looking for an excuse but I have a hard time believing a hardcore gang member cares about garnering sympathy from documentary viewers. If 28% of black men are in jail at one point in their lives then that's a lot of male role models out of the picture. It speaks to the tactics of anti-gang and anti-drug police actions. Locking up fathers, according to the filmmakers, really does stimulate a cycle of crime and despair.

Crips and Bloods: Made in America was narrated by Forest Whitaker.

Jeff Egnaczyk's review of Burn After Reading by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen (3.0/5)

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 20:39:55 GMT

Burn After Reading has half a dozen great actors filling out the script and, as a result, is a character driven film. One of the interesting things about Burn After Reading is that George Clooney play an untypical role. Clooney is Harry Pfarrer, a twitchy ex-air marshal. Yes, he's a philanderer with a certain level of self-confidence due to his good looks but his self esteem is fleeting. He picks up women through internet dating and doesn't hold up under stress. We're so used to seeing Clooney owning a movie with great acting supplemented by an overwhelming presence. That cool Clooney demeanor is exchanged for a Coenesque oddness. Brad Pitt does the same as Chad Feldheimer. He's a dorky, water bottle slurping, pretty boy riding his bicycle and wearing a gym-employee maroon polo shirt. Tilda Swinton is good as Katie Cox, Pfarrer's cold lover who is divorcing Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich).

Frances McDormand and John Malkovich are the best though characters in life crisis mode. McDormand is Linda Litzke, a woman trying to recoup her youth through plastic surgery. Malkovich is Osbourne Cox, a recently reassigned CIA analyst who quits his job in order to write his memoirs. I've admired McDormand's acting since I saw Fargo and she doesn't disappoint here. Malkovich brings the same level of intensity he seems to bring to everything he does. No one will pay for Linda's unnecessary surgeries and no one wants Cox's stories of pedestrian goings on within the CIA. Their similarly adrift lives collide as they both attempt to right the ship. Everyone seems to want to be on another boat. Harry is cheating on his wife with Katie and still looking for more on the internet. Osbourne wants to write as his wife jumps ship. Linda is also searching the internet while her boss Ted Treffon (Richard Jenkins) longs after her.

J.K. Simmons (Oz, Law & Order) and David Rasche (of Sledge Hammer! fame) play a couple of CIA officers who get to watch the pathetic lives of the cast. "What did we learn from this?", Simmons' character asks Rasche's at the end of the fiasco that unfolds throughout the film. Both agree that they can find no discernible lesson. Simmons' character doesn't really seem to care. Taking the path of least resistance he green lights payoffs and other extrajudicial remedies to clean up the plot. In the end you have to wonder what anything amounted to. It's a sad little play. Whether it's a drama, a tragedy, or a black comedy is up for interpretation. The actors do a lot of spinning until they stop and then get swept away and pretty much forgotten before the Coens on zoom out

Jeff Egnaczyk's review of Be Kind Rewind by Michel Gondry (3.5/5)

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:53:49 GMT

Mike (Mos Def) is tasked with watching Elroy Fletcher's (Danny Glover) decrepit video store. Thought to be the birth place of famous jazz musician Fats Waller, Fletcher's store is on the brink of financial destitution. Jerry Gerber (Jack Black), a paranoid eccentric who lives in a junk yard, kick starts the shenanigans by erasing every video (Fletcher doesn't sell DVDs) in the store after a failed attempt to sabotage the power plant (why?) magnetizes his whole body. Afraid word will get back to Fletcher, Mike and Jerry quickly make a 20 minute rendition of Ghostbusters. The film is a success, starting the duo - and later Alma (Melonie Diaz), an employee from the dry cleaner's down the street - on a movie making spree. It looks like Mike and Jerry have saved the store. Unfortunately that's portrayed in a montage, capping off a weak, somewhat slow first half of the movie.

The movie is an oddball comedy that manages to say something about community. "Be Kind Rewind" is getting pressure to close from a developer who, with good intentions, wants to demolish the building to make way for a brand new complex. Mike and Jerry find a way to build support for their store by making their customers a part of their venture. While the new building may improve the area's look, the old one represents a piece of the community's past.

Jeff Egnaczyk's review of Harlan Country, USA by Barbara Kopple (4.0/5)

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:18:27 GMT

The footage of this coal miner strike felt like it came straight out of a time before the National Labor Relations Board. It was 1973 though when Duke Power Company hired "gun thugs" to intimidate and take pot shots at the miners of Harlan County, Kentucky. State police were brought in to protect the road for imported scab workers but none were sent to stop attacks on the strikers. The state cops (the local sheriff was more ambivalent), the courts, and even United Mine Workers of America president Tony Boyle (who would later be convicted of ordering the murder of union challenger Joseph "Jock" Yablonski and his family) sided with the employer.

Barbara Kopple's documentary starts off portraying the claustrophobic working conditions of a coal miner. Workers emerging out of a void in the Earth have black soot under their noses, underlying the poor air quality that often led to "black lung". Only five years earlier an explosion at an explosion at a Farmington, West Virginia mine killed 78 miners. The strikers joined a union and are fighting for a contract as a way to redress these conditions. A contract, one worker says after one of their colleagues is shot to death by a scab, is "what Lawrence Jones died for".

The movie is in no way a two-sided endeavor. It dignifies the miners and vilifies the employers. The former are the epitome of working class. With bluegrass songs coursing through scenes of rundown houses and unpolished country folk, the film takes on the character of rural Appalachia. Lest you think the long fight was endured and taken on just by the miners, Kopple shows some pretty intense, bad-ass wives standing not only behind but in front of their men. It takes the miner months of striking, of civil disobedience, and eventually of arming themselves to win the fight for their livelihoods.