Harlan County U.S.A. 4K 1976 Ultra HD 2160p

A heart-wrenching account of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting for survival and a corporation driven by profit.

User Review

The miners are demanding that the company sign a collective bargaining agreement with the People’s Union, and they are calling for decent wages and workplace safety. The reality of their lives includes the occupational disease known as “black lungs,” high mortality rates from disasters and explosions, and hired thugs armed with weapons who attack picket lines.

The film was shot right from within the strike; it’s not just a montage of news footage, but a living, breathing film where the film crew is also a participant in the events. That’s why we see so many small details of the miners’ lives, daily routines, and struggles, and hear them speak. Watching this film, you’re sure to learn the word “scab”—a strike-breaker. The workers and their families set up picket lines and block roads to prevent scabs from entering the city, while the police crack down on them. In addition to the police, a machine gun causes some trouble:

- We’ll have a picket line in the morning. And we hope it will be a big one. Things will be arranged a little differently than last time, because it’s no good holding a picket line on a bridge when they’re shooting at you with a 30-millimeter machine gun.

There’s a memorable moment: a union meeting where they perform the song “Whose Side Are You On?” Its author was Florence Reese, the wife of a coal miner from Harlan County—she’s the one singing it in the film. She was the one who wrote the song, not Pete Seeger, even though his version is the one most people know. In general, the film features an outstanding soundtrack, including bluegrass-style workers’ songs composed specifically for that strike.

All in all, the film rightfully earned its Oscar and became a classic of proletarian cinema, like “Norma Ray” or “Metawon.” Here’s an example of a scene: two guys show the cameraman the spot where their friend was shot a few minutes earlier:

- Shot in the face with a shotgun.
- Who fired the shot?
- A damn scab. Bill Bruner. Here’s his brains. The kid was trying to do something. God, that’s what a scab can do to a man if you let him. Look, the ants are eating away at his brains… while he’s dying over there in the hospital. Maybe they shot the hell out of him over there.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (75.0 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1

Info Audio

#English: FLAC 1.0
#English: Dolby Digital 1.0 (Commentary by director/producer Barbara Kopple and supervising editor Nancy Baker)

Info Subtitles