Le sel de la terre

This film has a rare and beautiful honest quality seldom seen to this magnitude in pictures. Made during the height of McCarthyism in the 1950s it was produced completely by a blacklisted crew and professional cast. The film itself was banned in the U.S.A. by congress until the late 1960s. The picture is based on a true story of Mexican-American mine workers on strike in New Mexico. It deals with the wives of the miners having to to step up and work the picket lines in place of their husbands who were legally banned from picketing. Many of the cast members were actual participants in the original strike and the leading lady was deported before the film was even finished. The story of the struggle to make this film would actually make a good film. Ironically the film is very patriotic and shows what truly makes America great; it's people. A strong man and woman's picture with a genuinely beautiful fighting human spirit. It's one of a kind.

Salt Of The Earth is best known as a blacklisted film made by many of the artists whose lives were destroyed by HUAC and the complicity of the film industry. While the film's very exsistance is a tribute to the determination of the artists to do the right thing and not be silenced, it is much more than that. It is also a moving film tribute to the underclass of America who suffer greatly due to injustice and inequality. The film portrays the strike of Chicano mine workers in New Mexico. Their demands, which the company took 15 months to meet, included such outrages as safety, equality, and indoor plumbing. The most interesting aspect of the film is the way in which the women of the community are forced to take a leading role. By linking the oppression of the workers to the workers' oppression of their wives, the film becomes not only a pro-union film but also a feminist one. The story is stirring, and the scenes where the women are attacked for standing by their men are unforgetable. Salt of the Earth probably has more to do with everyday American lives than 99 percent of Hollywood films. Its humane portrayal of regular people fighting for their rights cannot help but awaken the common elements in us all.

"The only film in US history to be blacklisted."

That alone is praise!

SALT OF THE EARTH, a powerful film shot on a threadbare budget, mostly with local non-actors, was branded as "communist propaganda" during the infamous McCarthy "Red Scare" and was hardly shown in the USA when first released. However, the film was widely exhibited in Europe, where it was lauded with acclaim. It wasn't until the 1960's and 1970's that anyone in the USA had a decent chance to see this powerful work, and then only in film festivals, union meetings, or college campuses.

It is not propaganda. It is about the struggle for dignity and recognition. The making of this film it testament to that alone! For fear of destruction by "anti-communist" technicians, the film stock had to be smuggled into development labs and worked on in secret! Director Herbert J. Bieberman was arrested during filming, and had to give scene directions by letter and telephone while in prison.

The film the U.S. Government didn't want you see...now part of the National Film Registry. Consider watching this as driving a stake through Joe McCarthy's heart.

At the height of anti-communist paranoia this film was bound to be blacklisted. But its realism, naturalism, cinematography and significant plot make it a work of art. A harsh yet beautiful one. And one that has aged well - not dating itself at all even after the fall of communism. Things were never as simple as a duel. They are even less so now. And much of our hope resides with the fact that within the remaining superpower dissent should be at the very least tolerated - at best a multiplicity of views encouraged.

I had never worked a day of construction until the Summer of 2001. I applied, got hired, and immediately recieved rank of apprentice under the dumbest white guy I'd ever met. While I'm trying to learn maps and numbers, all the minorities were grouped together for the grunt work. I didn't know it, but it seems that there is a war between the whites and the Mexicans on most construction sites, and apparently the port-a-johns are used as the venue for slanderous discussion. Salt of the Earth is almost fifty years old. It illustrates inequality between whites & Chicanos, male & female, and rich & poor. Is it possible that fifty years later nothing has changed? We've achieved nothing as a human race. Sadly, this lack of achievement is what allows this film to have great meaning to modern-day viewers like myself. I've got a tag line for this movie: "Don't fight 'til the end. Fight to win."