Matewan

Pros: excellent story, fine acting performances by a terrific cast, cinematography, soundtrack
Cons: are we headed back in this direction today?

One of the most telling lines in this John Sayles film about real events is “You ain’t men to that coal company…” For that is the way workers were at the time; merely numbers to the well-off who profited on the backs of the working man. ...

Pros: It's an eye-opening masterpiece
Cons: NONE

Introduction: Matewan is a historical drama directed by the esteemed John Sayles (Return of the Seacaucus 7, Brother From Another Planet) about the coal miner's strike of 1920 in the title town of West Virginia. It's a ...

Pros: A wonderful production
Cons: none....well, the singing is a little tough

Pros: Excellent acting and directing, great cinematography and accompanying music; superb evocation of 1920s era.
Cons: A little long; some violence.

[NB: Re-posting of a very long review I wrote some time ago - now abridged.] Some Background For who are not familiar with the Matewan massacre, the following is the introduction to a brief overview by Lon Savage (taken from the Internet). ...

Pros: Good look at a historical event
Cons: none

Matewan gives us a literally and figuratively dark view, which is appropriate given the time period and events it depicts.

The time is the 1920s, the place, the dreary Matewan, W., Va., where the lucky ones with jobs buy their...

Pros: acting, story
Cons: "darkness"

Workers…are only human.

Few people understand or realize some of the many troubles and terror that raged throughout our country in the 1920's, where America was beginning its transition to urban times, and yet other places, like in this...

Pros: Brilliant film
Cons: Absolutely nothing

Matewan is one of the best,if not the very best,movie I have ever watched. It brought up emotions in me that I never knew exists. Directed by the brilliant John Sayles, this is the story of underpaid mine workers verses the coal company in 1920's West ...

Pros: Fabulous Story
Cons: None

"Matewan" is the story of Matewan, West Virginian coal miners and their struggle for fair treatment. The story takes place in the 1920's. The miners are living in horrible conditions and with the introduction of the Union, they finally have...