Salt of the Earth (1954)

Very powerful classic

This black and white film is almost sixty years old. It is not a modern, hip film like "Run Lola Run" or "The Fast and the Furious". It is a "message" film, but it is not filled with attractive, colorful scenes or glamorous stars like "Blood Diamond" or "Syriana". The dialogue is sometimes "on the nose" rather than implied.

HOWEVER--the photography actually is pretty good -- the way the old film makers used shadows and camera angles in black and white films can create very striking effects. The dialogue is actually realistic and heartfelt, and unlike cruder "message" films, the acting, the facial expressions, the body language do "imply" much of the emotion, rather than just stating it in speeches.

BUT MOST IMPORTANT -- this is an amazing, heartfelt film that confronts issues of worker mistreatment, of racist discrimination, and of the struggle for women's dignity.

Want some evidence that I'm not exaggerating? I show this film to my college classes -- impatient nineteen year olds who have been raised on the colorful, fast action of Hollywood films and MTV videos. And there is also the "too cool to be involved" attitude that many of them have. Yet this film really seems to move just about all of them -- the intensity of the discussions afterwards has pretty much convinced me that this film that was banned for so many years, this old-fashioned story is, in fact, what film folks call "a classic".
May 26, 2008

As Current As Todays News

At first this movie seems dated - it is 54 years old. Stay with it for a few more minutes and you will realize that it is NOW. Extracting work by draining the life's blood of the workers will never cease. Many brave people were involved in this true story, and many brave actors, writers, directors and producers made this film possible. The making of this film was a labor of love and belief, not a commercial venture. It should live on and be shown forever. April 15, 2008

Moving tale of determination and love during a strike

People unaware of the hundreds of thousands of workers who struck for better conditions, pay and housing for us all will learn much from this film. Based on a true story, Salt Of The Earth also dares to bring up women's rights. I loaned this film to a young coworker who has been indoctrinated all of his life from a rightwing perspective, and he was not only educated, but shocked that such conditions ever existed in the United States.

This film should be required viewing for all high school students in American History classes. March 9, 2008

Amazing Film!

Wow. One of the few films where the back story rivals the plot (like with Aguirre: The Wrath of God). The Salt of the Earth portrays the true story of Mexican American miners in America striking for better conditions. However, unlike many other union portrayals this takes on an incredible new slant when the male miners can no longer legally strike and their wives and daughters take over the picket line for them. Certainly my first movie equating good working conditions for men AND developing the "woman's question." The film was censored soon after release as communist fodder and the lead actress (one of only five paid actors - the majority of the west had participated in the actual strike) was deported to Mexico. This puts The Grapes of Wrath to shame! July 5, 2007

An inspiring film

This film shows how a group of mainly Hispanic miners who are discriminated against with dangerous working conditions and unsanitary housing better their lot through industrial action. But in the process the miners also have to change their attitudes towards women, so that the film acts against several social injustices at once. The film remains powerful even though it was made 50 years ago. It reminded me of the story of a successful hunger strike by ANC prisoners on Robben Island in the days of apartheid South Africa, told in Indres Naidoo's book Island in Chains.
Highly recommended. December 29, 2005

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