Harlan County USA

A cinema verite account of a coal miners’ strike in Harlan, Kentucky between 1973 and 1974 when the miners at the Brookside Mine fought for the right to join the Mine Workers’ Union of America. The film shows the major events of the strike; the confrontation between management and employees, the gun-slinging scabs, picketing miners’ wives, and violence and murder. It also shows that organised labour can be corrupt as can managements, as illustrated by the fight for union leadership. Rated: PG