Harlan County U.S.A.

Watching Harlan County U.S.A. on IFC was interesting for me. One of the kinda cool unexpected things was the songs. They reminded me of a 2000 movie Songcatcher that highlighted mountain music. In both cases, the people made up songs to deal with and comment on a wide variety of circumstances.

Years ago, I remember the United Mine Workers mentioned on TV news quite frequently. I'm not a huge fan of unions. But I don't remember having a strong opinion about their situation at the time. This movie Harlan County U.S.A. is a documentary about one mining community and life with strikes and violence. The movie won the 1976 Academy Award for a documentary.

Although I enjoy independent and foreign movies, my main interest in this case was observing their reaction to injustice. In this case the main injustice was greed. Greed is by nature self-centered and has little interest in the welfare of others, whether workers, persons who are or were close to them, or other people. As I have observed, the greedy have little interest in truth.

In this case the miners had a choice of how to react. They organized with ethics (sometimes). Despite their mixed motives, the movie was successful in helping me empathize with those who are victims of the greed of others. I understand the situation well.

I understand that people do not always wish to hear the truth. That isn't just the people involved. But it includes the government and the millions of observers that often require strong persuasion to care.

Injustice is happening around the world and in our neighborhood and other places close by. What will it take for people to care? What will it take for us to care?