Harlan County U.S.A.

The Brookside miners in Kentucky go on strike for a union contract. The strike lasts thirteen months. The company brings in strikebreakers, armed men hold the road, and the women move to the front of the picket line. Barbara Kopple directed. The crew stayed with the miners throughout and filmed from inside events. Its best-known passages are the night confrontations. The camera is on the line while shots are fired; the crew were beaten and attacked more than once. The existence of that footage had a direct effect in court and in public opinion. The women's organising is at the centre. It was largely the miners' wives who kept the line standing, and the film records it. Miners' songs of the period are used on the soundtrack; the music is part of the telling. It won the documentary Oscar in 1977 and counts among the founding works of American documentary. Who it is for: viewers who like labour history and the direct cinema tradition. Who it is not for: anyone expecting distance; the film stands openly with the strikers.