Popular reviews

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  Review by Logan Kenny ★★★★★ 3

  long live unions. no matter the outcome 40 years later, a group of the proletariat, labelled as uneducated and worth less than dirt, organised and fought a corporation for over a goddamn year for what was right. their bravery is raw and real and inspirational even today, because we still need unions and solidarity amongst the marginalised and working classes, to try and change anything. while the mines are mostly gone and the environment of America is nothing like what it once was, this proves that everyday people can come together and make a change, and that nothing is more powerful than a collective of human spirit. this made me cry my eyes out, a testament to the power of documentary filmmaking at its finest.

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  Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★★ 25

  Friends' Favorites: @loosecanons_ | RQP

  My takeaway from yesterday's events at the U.S. Capitol is the disparity between the police response to this right-wing protest and to the left-wing BLM protests earlier this year. Left-wing activists get rubber bullets and tear gas, they get abducted off the streets in unmarked vans, no habeas corpus, no due process. Right-wing activists get the red carpet, the police open the barricade to let them in and happily take selfies when the dust has settled.

  There's a scene in Harlan County USA where the local sheriff shows up to the coal miners strike to force the strikers to move a car that's blocking the access road the scabs use to break the picket line.…

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  Review by Bizon ★★★★★

  I don't think it's any coincidence that the role of women in the strike is so well documented by a female director (and a team of female editors).

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  Review by Rembrandt Q Pumpernickel ★★★★★ 9

  This is the summary for Harlan County U.S.A. on letterboxd: "A filmed account of a bitterly violent miner strike." I worry about writing about this film myself and whether or not I will just be elongating that concise but limiting sentence. Of maybe every movie I truly love, Harlan County U.S.A. is the one I may have the least words for. It is me. It is what my passion is. Film combined with social justice. How does one find the words to define one's self in such a way?

  I'll start with the beauty of the film. It is musical. I have never seen a documentary or really any not avant-garde film that approaches tone poem status as much as…

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  Review by Joshua Dysart ★★★★★ 5

  My wife had never seen the greatest American labor documentary - and so, arguably, the greatest American documentary - ever made. We rectified that last night.

  Never forget what the industrialists have wrought on the human body, mind, and soul; or how little regard they have for the American rhetoric of egalitarian opportunity.

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  Review by Jack Often ★★★★★ 4

  "If the company kills a man, the company gets let off."

  A big hole in my viewing filled and a great antidote to Joe that I badly needed. There are plenty of working people in this country who haven't been diverted by endless talk of immigrants and welfare queens. They know who the real enemy is, and who is really picking their pocket. The problem is that even the party that should be fighting for them has been told to stand down by its corporate masters. The workers have no political home and no one on their side. And that's why the lesson of this legendary film is so important; nobody can do it but the workers. In this summer…

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  Review by Jamelle Bouie ★★★★★ 1

  Whose side are you on?

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  Review by AD917 ★★★★★

  Essential viewing for every American.

  If you've ever wondered why the coal miners of today are so desperate to protect a dying industry that doesn't even seem to provide them a decent quality of life, it's because generations of their families have had to fight and claw their way through violent struggles such as those depicted here even to get just the tiny piece of the pie they once had. It's not just that it's all they know how to do. It's their inheritance. You can disagree with them, or the politicians who make empty promises to secure their votes. But understanding where they come from is essential.

  And don't think this is just some boring history or civics lesson.…

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  Review by Paul Elliott ★★★★★ 8

  Barbara Kopple's wonderfully directed and produced documentary about the labour tensions in Harlan County's coal-mining industry begins with striking scenes illustrating what it is like to labour in the coal mines located in southeastern Kentucky. It's both a touching and troubling document of the thirteen-month struggle in 1973 of coal miners and their partners fighting for survival and attempting to conserve their community against the owners of the Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine.

  Kopple spotlights the owners' sole concern existing to profits; delivering the circumstances behind the industrial action and layering in additional context to the struggle. It broadly highlights the history of coal miners within the twentieth century, including many references to the Harlan County War during the 1930s…

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  Review by Jerry McGlothlin ★★★★ 6

  If, after you watch this film, you still believe in so-called “American excellence” and industrial capitalism, there’s something wrong with your nob. And the most infuriating part of it all is, things haven’t gotten any better.

  The fight never stops.

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  Review by Jay D 's Watching ★★★★½ 1

  In a better world, this would be in rotation on basic cable as much as Austin Powers or Catwoman

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  Review by Justin Peterson 3

  Criterion Collection Spine #334

  Wow, I guess Unions are not always the worst thing ever after all!

  "They say in Harlan County
  There are no neutrals there.
  You'll either be a union man
  Or a thug for J. H. Blair.
  Which side are you on boys?
  Which side are you on?"

  At first, this was giving me the vibes of a documentary like 'American Factory', which I expected to be the same old story about workers going on strike and voting on joining a union. But as the story went on, it became fascinating to see how long this systemic mistreatment of coal miners had been going on.

  The documentary by Barbara Kopple allows us to experience the conflict on…