Strikebound

The first real coal-miners strike in 1930's Australia told through the struggles of Agnes and Wattie Doig, two lovable rogue characters. Lowenstein's approach is simple and effective with a documentary feel about it. A leftist film worth marching for.

This docudrama is based on the memories of Wattie and Agnes Doig, a miner and his wife who were involved in the Gippsland coal miners' strike of 1937. In the film, Chris Haywood and Carol Burns play Wattie and Agnes, in this dramatization of real events.

It's kind of interesting without being gripping, and is reminiscent of many British films of coal miners, an impression reinforced by the Welsh, Scottish and regional English accents of many of the participants. It's a competent recreation of the strike, but the action is sometimes confusing.

Likewise, the cinematography is variable, some clear sections contrasting between long periods of darkness when the action takes place underground or at night.

This is the debut of director Richard Lowenstein, but it is not as effective as Lowenstein's later contemporary films. Though the film's heart is in the right place, on the side of the oppressed workers, it is not particularly entertaining.