On Thu, 1 Jul 1999, David W Fortin wrote:

> I recently saw "The Molly Maguires" (with Richard Harris and Sean
> Connery), which I rather enjoyed.  As I was watching, I realized that I
> could only remember having seen only one other mining-centered film: 
> "How Green Was My Valley".  
> 
> Are there any other films out there worthy of note, and how accurate are
> these two above in depicting life in the mines?  Any that might make good
> teaching aids for undergrads?

Two excellent films from this side of the water are "Megan's Museum" and
"Matewan". Both deal with coal-mining communities, the former in Nova
Scotia and the latter in Pennsylvania.

"Megan's Museum" is a Canadian production financed in part by the National
Film Board pf Canada. It stars Helena Bonham Carter, backed by an
excellent supporting cast of mainly Canadian actors, and is an
unremittingly bleak tale of the impossibility of escaping from the mines
(for lack of alternative employment) and the constant fear of mine
disaster. Carter's character falls in love with a man who is determined
never to go down the mine, but as their relationship deepens his resolve
is undermined by desire for a home and family, so he goes down the mine
and (of course) is killed. It's a truly superb film and would be my first
choice for a movie to show in class.

"Matewan" is by John Sayles, one of the most established American
independent directors (his other movies, all very different from each
other, include "The Brother from Another Planet", "The Secret of Roan
Inish" "Lone Star" and "Men with Guns"). "Matewan" is solidly based on
fact and tells the story of a strike and its brutal repression in (I
think) the early years of this century. Again, a fine and a very
disturbing movie.


 ----------------------
David J Killick
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0030
Phone (520)621-8685; FAX 621-2088
[log in to unmask]



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