Harlan County War

Lowest-class working people go on strike for better conditions. Outside agitator helps foment discontent. Working class wife expands personally by taking part in the struggle. To a large extent this sounds like, and is, a 2000 remake of NORMA RAE, which is graced with a fine lead by Holly Hunter, and looks quite good considering it is set in Harlan County, KY, but filmed "on location in Toronto, Canada." Stellan Skarsgard as the labor organizer, and Ted Levine as Hunter's miner husband also deliver good performances, and entire cast is fine though most roles are smallish vs Hunter. Nice musical score.

This film takes off from the documentary HARLAN COUNTY USA and has plot resemblances to NORMA RAE. The slant is unabashedly left of center and the performances and details ring true (except the dogs don't look like mountain dogs to me). Hunter is given a fairly brief, mostly-in-the-dark seminude scene that I found a little gratuitous (possibly the first time those words have ever crossed my lips). I didn't catch the credit, this viewing, for the little guy (he's about as short as Hunter) who plays her father, but he looks exactly right as a used-up coal miner and might have been cast right off the street in my neighborhood.

Picture is set in the 1970s, with Nixon references and talk of wage scales that will sound unbelievable today. Sneak previewed on Showtime the night of 5/29/2000, this is a commendable fictionalization of the story told even more dramatically in HARLAN COUNTY USA, and easily the best premium cable original film I've seen in a long time. Martin Ritt would have made it even better but he wouldn't have been ashamed of this version. And which side are *you* on, buddy?

I take issue with those who have said this is not an accurate depiction of Appalachian coal country, though I will admit it's probably more representative of parts of West Virginia than Kentucky. I spent 14 years in WV, my wife is from WV and her father grew up in a coal camp.

My wife's grandmother didn't have running water or indoor plumbing until the '70's (heck members of *my* family didn't have indoor plumbing until the late '60's and I grew up in PA!).

I have known many people in WV who sound very much like Holly Hunter in this film, and even dated a woman from the coalfields of southern WV with a similar accent.

The geography also reminds me of WV (though admittedly it wasn't filmed there).

All-in-all an excellent film, and it's hard to believe it represents events as recent as the '70's! We've (until recently) come a long way and we need films like this to remind us how bad things recently were and could soon be again (or worse re: last year's Utah mine disaster).

I have spent my entire life in Harlan County, Kentucky. Growing up, working and now raising my own children here. To those of you who believe this movie has anything real to teach you about my home, I can tell you it has only a minimal similarity to reality. It is based on a nearly thirty-year-old Oscar-winning film, Harlan County USA, which for a documentary about the 1970s-era strike at Eastover Mining Company was one of the most complete works of fiction ever created. This admittedly fictionalized version of that original fiction doesn't look like Harlan County, sound like Harlan County, or even remotely evoke Harlan County, which at least the documentary did, even though most of its details were way out of whack. Although stereotypes abound, I can recommend this movie as a competent piece of fiction and a satisfying, though somewhat overwrought, drama. In short, typical made-for-TV fodder. But don't for one minute think it resembles real people or real life in Harlan County, Kentucky in any useful way. That story doesn't exist yet in the minds of producers anywhere. Appalachia and the entertainment industry have yet to understand one another.

This movie works well on many different levels. Holly Hunter is

brilliant as Ruby Kincaid the wife of Silas - the story shows how

her strength of heart and will comes from an inner belief and drive.

the movie also shows how tough it can be at the sharp end of

labor and management battles - the final line where guns are

drawn, both sides back away and then one man is killed before

serious and ultimately successful negotiations are made is very

stark.

The score is also very well done.

Pretty ironic that a supposedly pro-union Kentucky story was filmed in Canada, isn't it? Meanwhile LA filming crews go jobless.

The original documentary is a better, more compelling film - because it's "real" and you're in the trenches with the camera, however I still found Holly Hunter's performance to be remarkable. This suffers from the usual TV drama problems; from the very first scene they're begging for the viewer's pity, and we learn that Hunter's character is a strong woman, but we never learn how the fight is really won. The power struggles with her husband are hinted at, but never fleshed out and developed or resolved. If you're a fan of Hunter's you might enjoy her performance, but otherwise skip it. Put the effort into finding the original documentary, "Harlan County, USA." Or else watch the news.