Left Field Cinema

WARNING: Contains Mild Spoilers

“You think this man is the enemy? Huh? This is a worker! Any union keeps this man out ain't a union, it's a goddam club!”

John Sayles’ Matewan is surely one of the most underrated films in American cinema in the last 30 years. It received only one Oscar nomination (for Haskell Wexler’s cinematography) which it didn‘t win, and has dropped into relative obscurity. This is a shame because it’s one of the best treatments of a part of American history that is often overlooked in their native cinema even when Hollywood sets films in the era; the rise of the Union.

It’s 1920 and the Mining Company have just decided to cut the wages in the town of Matewan, so the downtrodden workers start to discuss a walk out, and even more dangerously, contacting the Union. Things go from bad to worse when the Company hire Black and Italian workers to come and work for less, but Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper) arrives on the same train with the aim of uniting all three parties under the Union and starting strike action. The Company though have no qualms about using hired muscle, and if needs be firepower, to get their way.

The film is staged like a Western. Joe Kenehan, by bringing the Union and Workers rights to the southern town represents progress and civilisation whilst the company, who want to keep the status quo (practically slave labour), represent the old barbaric ways. It’s the classic western conflict, and it will naturally culminate in a shoot out, but this film is so much more then just a Western, it‘s a machine of ideas and beliefs constructed wonderfully. Kenehan is a pacifist and we never see him holding a gun. We find out that he was imprisoned as a conscientious objector during World War One, and therefore twists the genre tradition by having a man who brings peace via non-violent persuasion as the outlaw (and Union men at the time were happily treated as criminals and murdered). Mary McDonnell (probably best known now as President Laura Roslin in the updated Battlestar Galactica) plays Elma Radnor and steals the show with a role which on the second viewing I found to be a lot smaller then I remembered. She is the love interest but unlike the classic Hollywood narrative that plagues most Westerns, this relationship will remain unconsummated. And unlike the Western Tradition of having the town refuse to act forcing one man to stand up (most noticeably in High Noon, The Gunfighter or the 3:10 to Yuma update), the entire town of Matewan makes the effort to improve it’s fortunes.

It’s populated with a cast of great and industrious character actors (James Earl Jones, Will Oldham, David Strathairn, Kevin Tighe, Bob Gunton, Ken Jenkins) that inherit their characters with defining traits and make their roles seem not just realistic but vital to the telling of the tale, even if they are not, and is in stark contrast to Sayles’ Silver City which was a mess of episodic encounters with famous actors that distracted from the political machinations of the plot. No such qualms here, and Sayles structure is also coherent and manages to balance several developing story lines and themes in a masterly fashion. It peaks a little short of the end with the culmination of the workers’ plot against Kenehan, but Sayles keeps it on track to the very end.

Whilst there are numerous important characters it is Elma Radnor’s son Danny (Will Oldham, probably now best known for his musical alter-ego Bonnie “Prince Billy”) who is the heart of the film (he narrates it as an old man) and unbeknownst to Kenehan becomes his protégé. It is through Danny that Sayles expresses one of the most important and interesting themes of the film; the idea that Socialism is a modern religious movement akin to Christianity (many argue it is an ideology) as the workers’ suffering is compared to that of the Christians in early Judea. When the workers grow frustrated with the Union’s lack of action Kenehan tells them that they must wait; what he’s actually them is to have faith. Yet whilst Kenehan may imply that he is an atheist it obvious through Danny that Sayles does not feel that his political ideals usurp his religious ones and that both can coexist, and Danny’s ability to find metaphors for their cause in the bible shows as much. The bone of Sayles' message is that if we can come together for each other, we can look after each other and be safe, and anyone who risks their life to do that is a hero (and there are questions of martyrdom at the end of the film).

It may all sound a bit preachy, arguably it is, but Sayles keeps a lot of it subtle enough so it doesn’t seem overboard and saves himself by actually constructing a thrilling plot around his statements (after all this is Danny‘s flashback and whilst it is never implied that he is he could always be an unreliable narrator, embellishing characters he loves and demonising those he hates). Hickey and Griggs (Kevin Tighe and Gordon Clapp respectively) are the two men sent down to sort out the trouble-makers and are wonderfully despicable, at the cost of balance, but they are mercenaries and sadly these types of people have always existed. In one scene Hickey tells Danny about his time at war and from the way he tells it we get the impression that it was those experiences that made him the way he is. It maybe gives Hickey a bigger defence then he deserves but it backs up Sayles’ pacifist message.

The cinematography is never less then sublime. Haskell Wexler (who plied his trade on such classics as In The Heat Of The Night, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Days Of Heaven and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) captures the scenery and the actors effortlessly, acting as the perfect omnipotent watcher, never seeming lost in the action. Everything from the people to the building seem to be cast in an aura thanks to some fantastic lighting work (Danny’s nostalgia?). The glow fades from red to a burnt paper yellow as the outlook gets bleaker yet never ceases to breathe poetry, and the editing understatedly captures mood changes to round off some great technical film-making that goes hand in hand with the heart of the film instead of being one or the other, and it is topped off with a fantastic traditional folk soundtrack. One can’t help but think Sayles was lucky and his ambition coincided with the bringing together of a faultless cast and crew to make something special (he’s not really lived up to expectations as a director), but sometimes it just all comes together.

Even though the whole piece is exceptional there are some standout scenes. When the Black workers, led by Few Clothes (James Earl Jones) first arrive at the Company and are told they must buy all their tools and it will be taken out of their wages along with rent, clothes and utilities. When Few Clothes leads Kenehan into the forest whilst Danny tries to reveal the truth to the townspeople through his sermon or the final shootout are just three examples, and David Strathairn as the Sheriff steals pretty much every scene his in. Tension is not a problem for Sayles and it builds up magnificently helped by his casts achievement of creating characters we care about. It also ends ambiguously, not all the bad guys are defeated and not all the good guys live, and Danny’s narration indicates that the battle is still ongoing (on the films release in 1987, Margaret Thatcher was still battling the unions and there had been a high unemployment rate under Reagan). True to life it doesn’t end pretty.

It said more then anything that came out of Hollywood in that decade and it was down to independent films such as Matewan and Reds to stand up for America’s ideals. Hollywood did make some entertaining political films in the 80s but it usually involved Gene Hackman fighting those pesky Russians. This is far more intelligent and breaks down the barriers of nationality and race in the true American way, represented by one scene in which the different groups playing their own indigenous music separately grow tolerant of each other and then start playing together, and that’s how cultures grow and develop.

A wonderful piece of work. Is it a Masterpiece? I’m not sure. But if not, it’s damn close.

Lewis Carter