Cheap Matewan (DVD) (Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones) (John Sayles) Price

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Customer Reviews of Matewan

Bleak mood sets the tone of this coal mine strike story
This 1987 film, written and directed by John Sayles, is based on a real incident from the 1920, when workers from a West Virginia coal mine went on strike. Chris Cooper stars as a labor union organizer who comes to the town which is run the Company that have just brought in a trainload of black men as well as a group of Italian families to do the work of the strikers. James Earl Jones is cast as the leader of the blacks who says out loud that he understands people can't help calling him the "N" word, but no man can ever call him a "scab". Will Oldham is cast as a 14-year old mine worker and sometimes preacher. There are heroes and villains in this film, and Kevin Tighe and Gordon Clapp are the kind of bad guys you love to hate.

The pace is slow as the story unfolds, each actor giving depth to his or her role. The Union is represented as a good and unifying force for the diverse types of people caught up in the drama. The company is represented as bad. Really bad. Not only did they exploit their workers and push people out of their homes, they also did not stop at brutal murder. There were enough personal stories to keep the film interesting although I found some of the speeches a little long and talky. It was all about mood and bleakness and John Sayles sure is a master of setting the mood. Most of the extras in the film lived in the area of Appalachia where it was shot and the close-ups of their faces added to the film's authenticity.

One of the problems was that the transfer of the film to DVD wasn't done well. The sound was muffled and some of the words were indistinct. And the shots set in the forest were so dark that it was hard to tell what was going on. I enjoyed the film although I thought it was too long. Followers of John Sayles work will enjoy it though, as well as those with an interest in union struggle.

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An exploration of America's terrible dark side
It's difficult not to get your personal feelings called into play when watching an obviously slanted film like Matewan. John Sayles, like Oliver Stone, is an obvious agit-prop master for the left. But so are several others. However, those others do not get the responses that Sayles has evoked because they don't have half the movie making talent that Sayles possesses. There is no fence-sitting when watching his films, and that's because his visions and messages are clear, uncompromising and passionate. Matewan is his highest achievement in those regards.

Using the coal miners' unionization efforts of the 1920s as his springboard, Sayles explores one of the dark truths at the heart of free-market capitalism: the unblinking willingness of those in power to crush--physically and spiritually--those who work.
Sayles' gritty realism, the gaunt faces of the actual citizens of West Virginia who serve as extras in the film, Haskell Wexler's recreation of a long-gone era, and, of course, the great performances all around, drive that dark point home. Sayles' script, although a little long-winded at points, illustrates well how employers pit worker against worker, worker against scab, scab against scab. In fact, the workers do as much violence to each other as the bosses do to them. Don't dismiss this as a masnifesto disguised as a film. In the tradition of On the Waterfront (also based on an actual event), the characters, situations, and dialogue are all convincing.

This is a great film but be sure to see it on video, not DVD, as others have pointed out.

Rocco Dormarunno, author of THE FIVE POINTS

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MATEWAN as teaching tool
To avoid repeating what others have said, I'll just concur that this movie has the ring of truth about a little-known chapter of American labor history, and writing, acting and photography are superb. I showed it to two classes of students this semester and they were almost all fascinated. (Freshmen!) I was asked why they didn't learn about the mine wars of West By-Gosh in their history classes, which led to interesting discussion questions like "who writes history?" I used the film in conjunction with Denise Giardina's STORMING HEAVEN--a novel about the same mine wars. Both are based on actual events and lives.

For material that promotes fast-paced classroom discussion, Sayle's MATEWAN can't be beat. He is a fascinating writer and producer; MATEWAN is, however, the best Sayles' movie I've seen on all counts--writing, acting, photography, and historical content. Some reviewers here have called it slow-moving. I have watched it at least 5 times and find it just as compelling now as when I viewed it the first time. Buy it--you won't be sorry!