Life in the coal towns is portrayed realistically and the film color is a marvel. The guards really did throw people out of their homes. Around 1912 there is a documented story that during the Paint Creek - Cabin Creek strikes, one miner's wife, in labor, was thrown out of her house. She pleaded to be allowed to first have her child, but the guards threated to shoot her if she didn't leave the house. She gave birth a couple of hours later in a UMWA tent. So remember when you watch this film that other indignities and unspeakable acts occurred in these mine fields - Sayles gives you a good taste of the unfortunate circumstances.
Good reading for those interested in learning more after seeing Matewan might be David Alan Corbin's "Life, Work, and Rebellion in the Coal Fields." Matewan is discussed several times in his book. (I have no affliation). You will learn more about how every aspect of a miner's life was controlled by the company - for instance, lessons taught at the company-operated school were designed to educate the children in mining methods and hazards.Matewan touches upon these issues but of course not everything can be shown in one movie.
I'm glad this movie was produced to educate others about the miner's plight. It's an excellent addition to anyone's collection. Too bad it was never publicized enough to make it more mainstream.
The photography and costuming are outstanding, conveying genuine period flavor. The town of Matewan appears appropriately gritty and depressed, lending a nobility to those who defend it. Moreover, the struggle, as Sayles shows, is not only the classic labor vs. capital, but for the soul of Christianity in which Will Oldham's social gospel competes with Sayles' (in a bit part) hellfire and brimstone. Like Salt of the Earth, feminist themes occasionally surface with vivid force, such that it's no surprise when the disrespectful Tighe gets his final comeuppance from a woman. The ending is suitably ambiguous, with a begrimed Oldham staring balefully into the camera and into the future. Sayles has always had a strong social conscience. Here however he shows real guts in taking on themes that send cold shivers down Hollywood's spine as studio heads cast a wary eye toward their Wall St. bankrollers. Like so much else, Matewan demonstrates that in America, truth, such as it is, is only to be found on the margins. Thank goodness for these margins, like independent filmmaking, Matewan, and John Sayles.
Have you ever seen a film that was photographed in color but seems to be in sepia or even black and white. This is the Wexler magic and what it can do to enhance the story.
" Mom said that Joe Kenihan would always leave...but he is here with us always up here in these West Virginia Hills."
Of course, this is a carefully crafted illusion that becomes increasingly apparent as the film continues. Imposed on this meticulous atmosphere and re-embodiment is a characteristically didactic and contrived Sayles script. The bad guys are simply vicious; the good guy is a saint too impotently good to live in such an America; the workers have the dignity of being flawed and complex. The film is full of Ken Loach-like political speeches (at least Sayles humorously acknowledges this by himself playing a hellfire, reactionary preacher), and some of the intercutting (e.g. between a prayer meeting and a union meeting; like Pasonlini, Sayles taps into the radical, proto-socialist impulses behind Christ's teachings) is hardly subtle. Some of the plot developments - including a misplaced love-letter, a false accusation of rape and eavesdropping in a cupboard - are the cliches of Victorian melodrama.
That none of this detracts from the power of 'Matewan' is due to the sensitvity of Haskell Wexler's cinematography; the solemn dignity of the acting; the savage indignation that went into the making of the film; and the brave refusal to dilute the stern politics with a trite love story. More a liberal than a left-wing polemic, much of the film's brilliance lies in the way the period story reflects on Reagan's America - the hypocrisy of a conservatism trumpeting family values while allowing an unchecked capitalism that destroys those families; the glorification of selfishness at the expense of communities; institutional racism; the excessive war-mongering to deflect domestic problems, and the centrality of a gun culture - without once destroying its integrity.
