Salt of the Earth

In honor of Labor Day, I encourage you to watch Salt of the Earth.  For someone like me who works in an office and haven't had to deal with a lot of working class struggle, I found this film genuine and involving.

Before Norma Rae, before Matewan, even before Martin Luther King, was Salt of the Earth. This movie will continue to be a timely topic as long as there are class struggles and new citizens coming to the U.S. (even though the New Mexicans portrayed in this film are citizens). Based on a real life strike.

New Mexico Hispanic miners protest the dangerous working conditions in the mine. Their wives also want some equality in the home--namely indoor plumbing to help with the backbreaking chore of hauling water.

The film's narrator is Esperanza (meaning hope) whose husband Ramon becomes one of the strike leaders. He tells her they need to concentrate on the mine strike before they can consider plumbing. There are some Caucasian people that are on their side--union members and fellow miners. When the far away mining company gets an injunction to stop the strike, the miners vote for the wives to picket (which was technically legal), causing the lawmen to ramp up their strikebreaking activities, using tear gas, physical force, pretty vicious stuff. This causes the women (and some children) to be arrested, and suddenly Ramon finds himself doing domestic duties and also understanding his wife's rights too (though only temporarily).

The baddies are portrayed quite unflatteringly--the strikebreakers are pretty much unfeeling bigots, the mine owner is a rich fat cat who is distanced from his workers. But even Ramon has his faults as he is not entirely trusting of the white union worker whom he calls a friend, and looks down on his wife somewhat at the same time he is looked down on by the mine owner. The family portrayed has depth of emotion and issues that are both big and small. Esperanza seems to understand the issues more than her husband, which makes this a personalized story.

Only five professional actors were used (the only one I knew was Will Geer, who was the grandpa on The Waltons), the rest (including Ramon) are real miners and civilians. I think Esperanza was played by a real actor but in any case she is really good, quiet, meek and thinking and knowing when to play her hand. Remarkably this was made in 1953, and a short decade later figures like ML King would be lauded for demanding similar rights of equality while this film and its makers were blacklisted.