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Mood:
- ContemplativeDisturbingCaptivatingThought ProvokingSincere
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Plot:
- Fighting the SystemAmericanaRacismWorkplace SituationsInjusticeHeroesLife is a BitchMind and Soul more...
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Genres:
- DramaIndependentHistorical
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Time/Period:
- 20s20th Century
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Place:
- VirginiaWest VirginiaSmall Town
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Style:
- Talky
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Based on:
- Based on True Story
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Attitudes:
- SeriousRealisticSlow
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Matewan, 1987
English, Italian
USA
Profile of Matewan
The mood of Matewan is disturbing, thought provoking, and contemplative. The plot centers around racism, Americana, and workplace situations. It is a drama, independent, and historical movie. Stylistically, Matewan is talky. In approach, it is serious and realistic. The pacing is slow. Matewan takes place, at least partly, in a small town. The setting is West Virginia and Virginia. It happens in the 1920s. Matewan is originally a true story.
Summary of Matewan
The year is 1920, the setting Matewan, West Virginia, where the town's coal miners labor under miserable, unhealthy conditions. Enter Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper), a rebellious union leader who wants to organize the West Virginian miners, as well as the Italians and blacks brought in as workers. Based on a real massacre in Matewan that started the 1920-1921 Coal War between miners and coal company thugs, MATEWAN subverts the convention of Westerns like HIGH NOON. Kenehan is not the drifter who will save the miners with his skill at a six-shooter; rather, he is a pacifist whose message of non-violent resistance the miners have difficulty accepting. The story is divided into four parts, alternating between times when Kenehan prevails and times when the instinct for revenge against the coal company wins out. The first large-scale historical epic made by director John Sayles (who once worked in the Meat Packer's Union), MATEWAN is a subtle strike against the anti-union climate of the 1980s and a moving portrait of the difficulties of collective action.
Details
| Language: | English, Italian |
| Country: | USA |
| Release date: | 28 August 1987 |
| Runtime: | 135 min |
Cast and Crew
as Joe Kenehan
as 'Few Clothes' Johnson
Photos
