Discuss in two paragraphs how filmmaker Barbara Kopple cinematically represents the miners, the coal executives, and the union leaders. Be sure to use specific cinematic elements in your discussion. What were your impressions of the film as a whole?
Due Wednesday, January 22.
Harlan County USA was easily one of my favorite movies that we've watched in IB Film. Since I thoroughly enjoy not only watching but making documentaries, examining Barbara Kopple's documentary making style was extremely engaging. An interesting aspect of this was that Kopple clearly took the side of the miners in her film. The interviews and footage examined those on strike, bashed the "scabs", and frowned upon those such as the sheriff and various foremen who did not support the strike. (Film critic Deniz Schwartz expressed his love for the film, however did specifically not that it was extremely one-sided). However, within the single perspective of the film were various other perspectives from the miners, UMW leaders, and, very importantly, from the wives, mothers, sisters, and beyond of the miners. It was really their personal perspective that allowed for viewers to sympathize with the miners because they are almost in the same position we are. Unless we've worked as a miner, we will never understand what being a miner is like. But we might be able to understand the feeling one gets when they are unsure if a loved one will come home safely, or if they are worried about having enough money for food and other necessities. Essentially, that was what the strike was all about - ensuring that the miners get enough compensation for the dangerous work that they do. One of the most riveting scenes in the film was when a young boy was shot while on the picket line, leaving his mother and (creepily) young wife without anyone to support them. It was devastating to an audience to see the mother's reaction to the death, and she was so distraught she had to be carried away. If they hadn't before, it was at that point that the audience (should have) realized the price the miners were paying to go on strike. While they were fighting for what they believed in, they were also taking a huge risk by going against what the power companies wanted and this opened up to the audience the severity of the situation.
ReplyDeleteI believe my favorite aspect of the film was the raw footage that was used. The shots weren't always perfect. But that's because perhaps Kopple didn't have time to set up a tripod. She herself was taking a huge risk by inserting herself in the situation, and by doing so the information and footage she was able to obtain really reflected the miners better than a full fledged camera crew with lighting and the likes ever would have. Overall, I think it was the personal connections the audience was able to make through this that made the film such a success and was able to captivate viewers everywhere.
Harlan County USA is a documentary about the coal miners in Harlan County, Kentucky who went on strike in order to get a fair contract with their employer, the Duke Power Company. The documentary explores the efforts of coal miners and their wives that went on strike in order to get better pay and living conditions in Harlan County for the workers. Barbara Kopple is purposeful in her representation of the coal miners and the coal executives because during the film she shows a bias. She involves herself in the film expressing that she is for the workers 100% of the way and is documenting their side of the story. Barbara Kopple tries to show the viewer exactly what’s happening to the coal miners and represents their efforts in getting a better contract with the coal company. She shows this story purposefully using cinematic elements to make the viewer sympathize with the coal miners and be against the coal companies.
ReplyDeleteBarbara Kopple controls the mise-en-scene in the documentary as a way for us, the viewers, to sympathize with the citizens of Harlan County. She can’t actually control the mise-en-scene as in to making a set or anything, but she chooses what she wants to show us in order to influence our opinion about the subject of the documentary; about the coal miners who just want a better contract. She shows us the run down houses of the county, houses without heat or running water and seems to be like they are going to collapse around them at any minute. Even in one scene they show a mother having to bathe her child in a metal bucket too big for her, talking about how one day they’ll have a contract after the strike and be able to have running water in the house again. Barbara also shows us the “costume design and make-up” of the workers in their natural environment in the coalmine, covered in the ash of the coal being so dark that “you can’t tell the blacks from the whites anymore.” Their clothes are dirty and we realize how dangerous their work was with the possibility of the mine around us falling down on the workers. That’s also an important part of Barbara’s tactic in representing the coal miners; she show’s them naturally. Nothing in the film is scripted; there are no formal interviews, or dressing up for the camera; everything we see on the screen truly is the beliefs and lives of the people of Harlan County, therefore letting us to identify with their situation even more. We know that what we see is real and we feel that much more remorse for these workers going on strike because of this way that Barbara portrays them on the screen. Everything from the music to the workers on the screen is the true heart of the miners and their wives and the community.
On the other hand, Barbara portrays the coal executives, the people fighting to have the regular contract with the “no strike clause” be ratified. Barbara makes it seem like these executives are the villains in the situation. She never really has up close personal interviews with the executives, just recording and showing the open speeches to the public saying what their goals are for the contract. Not having them be up close in the camera or being personally talked to on the screen is a factor in making the executives seem aloof from the actual situation in Harlan County. This paired with the facts presented about the county members living in horrible conditions with little to no money to live on, acquiring sickness, almost no vacation days, Barbara pins the blame on the executives by keeping them aloof, showing only how their “gun thugs” threaten the strikers while trying to keep their guns hidden from the view of the camera. All of these factors in how the movie is filmed cinematically create a felling of remorse in the miners and make the viewer be just as against the coal executives as Barbara and the coal miners are, making us better understand their case in fighting for a new contract.
Overall I really enjoyed the documentary, I found it the story that Barbara was trying to tell powerful. I would have to agree with her and fight with the miners' side seeing first hand the poor housing they live in, the diseases they aquire n the job, and the violence that the company owners display towards them, even going as far to hire gun thugs to go scare away the strikers, even firing at them at one point. So that's what i thought of it as a whole.
DeleteBarbara Kopple's filmmaking style in Harlan County USA was the first of its kind, making this documentary extremely popular and a member of the Criterion Collection. This film is another example of cinema verite that we watched in class. Barbara Kopple is not just a "fly on the wall" with a camera in this scenario. She interacts with the coal miners. She interviews people playing all different roles in the story. Although, this film does seem to have a one-sided perspective. Through Kopple's filmmaking style, we can tell that she sides with the strikers, as she catches mostly their anger and opinions on camera. The miners are portrayed as the underdogs in the film. They are strong and fight for what they believe in, but the union leaders step all over them. The way Barbara Kopple films, the audience tends to side with the miners. We being to sympathize with them, as a third party, just watching the horrible things that are happening and not being able to do anything. The union leaders are portrayed as the villains, because they are keeping the miners from fair wages and work. The union leaders are the ones to blame. Its the workers that Kopple focuses on and sides with.
ReplyDeleteThe mise-en-scene in the film is very unique and special, because everything is real. The set is the real homes of the miners, the actual mine, and Harlan County. There aren't any actors or costumes, just the real people of Harlan County and their everyday clothes. Its important that everything on screen is real because it allows for the audience to better understand what the miners are going through. Their struggles are more accurately depicted on screen because nothing was scripted or set up.
As a whole, I thought the film was very interesting. I did not know much about the miners of Kentucky prior to watching this film, so it was very neat to learn about this topic. The authenticity of the footage kept me, as a viewer, very intrigued throughout the entire film. Even the music was sung by a miner's wife! The songs were folk songs of their county, making the film seem even more "real." Overall, I very much enjoyed this film and Kopple's filmmaking style.
Overall, I can really see how this film was revolutionary as far as documentaries go. Most at the time were more simple presentations heavy with stale interviews and talking heads. There were shots that would be in a narrative film, coming down mine shafts, etc, that you wouldn't expect in a documentary if you were accustomed to the old status quo of documentaria. This film was not a balance representation of the parties involved, purposely and deliberately. The purpose was not to present an equal showing of opinions from all sides, perhaps because the actual situation was not equal in balance of power.
ReplyDeleteThe filmmaker Barbara Kopple does show a clear bias in her presentation of the picketers, the scabs, the union leaders, and the executives. She is definitely filming from the perspective of the miners. She gets no insight into what is happening behind the scenes at the union or at executive meetings. We only see and hear the things the average miner on the ground would be privy to. It allows us to really get in their heads, and understand why they’re angry. But its more than that, because if she had shown a more balanced view we probably could have still understood the anger of the miners, but showing only what the miners know lets us feel true empathy for their plight. The executives are only seen in board rooms or hurrying through the streets away from reporters. The union leaders are seen in meetings, and the ones we are convinced to like we also see interacting with miners. The bulk of the information we know about the two groups of leadership comes from the mouths of miners, not from interviews directly with the leadership. In the representation of the miners we see them everywhere, in their homes, meetings, on the streets, in church, with their children, at the doctors, and they talk directly to the filmmaker, and by extension, the audience. The music is very important in how we view a shot; there could be just a shot of a union meeting, relatively unbiased, but with the addition of a sad kentucky song about miners being abused, the shot takes on a new meaning.
Harlan County USA is a documentary about a group of miners that have been stripped of their rights as US citizens to feed the greedy needs of the mining industrialists, Duke Power Company. This documentary, directed by Barbara Kopple, goes through the lives of the mine workers as they struggle to gain their rights back through striking. This is unlike many other documentaries because Barbara Kopple takes it upon herself and her crew to travel into the mines with the workers to experience what they experience. In doing this, she makes it clear to the viewer that she is devoting this 100% to the cause of the miners.
ReplyDeleteBarbara Kopple is also in charge of the shot composition and mise-en-scene of the documentary. She establishes what is in the shot and what is not in the shot, which is another example of how she directly shows she is on the miners side. Whenever the miners are shown in the frame they are in a group, whether it be the women and wives joined together to fight for their fathers and husbands, or the people out on the front waiting for the “scabs” to arrive so they can block the road. Now whenever the corporate people are shown during interviews, they are always filmed as though they are standing alone, like its a one man army against the world of miners. How can any one man win against an army of miners? They can’t, which is the point Kopple is trying to establish.
Another thing that not only shows Kopple’s intent with the documentary but is also a very interesting film technique is her use of diegetic and nondiegetic music. The blue grass music is something unique to this part of the country and has it’s own unique sound. People from corporate industries such as Duke Power Company are not usually associated with this type of music, but it’s the only music to be played throughout the film. I believe that in doing this Barbara Kopple tries to show the divide between the miners and the company and also makes a more personal connection between the audience and the miners, as music often does.
As a whole, I think this was a very interesting documentary. It is definitely unlike a lot of documentaries I’ve seen in the past where they gather footage from other sources and interview “floating head”. Barbara Kopple and her team took it to the next level of documentary making. I have to say that this type of documentary making is more informative because you see personal experiences of the people, but it a lot of biased. That’s what you’re going to get when you have a “real” film, though.
Harlan County USA was a great documentary and one that kept my attention the entire time I was watching it. The way that Barbara Kopple represented the miners was definitely in an innocent light and made them seem like they were completely in the right the entire time and she portrayed the coal executives as the bad guys who are greedy, violent in some cases, and as if they don't really care about the well being of the coal workers and they’re well being as people. The Union leaders are portrayed as superheroes and almost like the saviors of the miners. Through diegetic sound, this film truly does show a one sided agenda. All of the music used was music that had lyrics that helped spread the miner agenda and again portrayed the coal executives as the bad guys. I feel this music was one of the most powerful things about this film to help portray the miners the way it did. Also the shots of the miners in the mines very much helped to show the miners in an innocent and vulnerable light as they were covered in coal and dirt while working their hands to the bone getting dirty. Then right after these shots, usually followed was a scene about the executives wearing suits and nice clothes living the high life and this is used to juxtapose the miners and their hard lives with the executives who get to live the high life without a single care in the world, making them seem like the bad guys. The union leaders for the most part are portrayed as people who give the miners hope that they will get a new and better contract. Mostly portrayed as one of the miners the union leaders are so they are compared to the miners and not compared to the executives.
ReplyDeleteMy impressions of this film is exactly what the filmmaker wanted. I felt that the coal executives were greedy bad people who didn’t care at all about the well being of the miners. This is what makes me love this documentary so much. This documentary actually made me feel exactly what they wanted me to feel, meaning she did a great job with this film. Even without a tripod it seemed she always got the perfect shot of what was going on. around her. I truly do feel this documentary was fantastic and i will use techniques she used in her documentary in my films if i ever makes documentaries as well.