Common Sense Media Review
By Brian Costello
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Riveting 1976 docu about striking miners has some violence.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
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Harlan County, USA
What's the Story?
HARLAN COUNTY, USA is an Oscar-winning documentary about a 13-month strike between coal miners and the Brookside Mine of the Eastover Mining Company in eastern Kentucky in 1973 and 1974. The film captures the dire poverty of the miners and their families, and their bitter and violent struggles against both Eastover and union-busting scabs and thugs. The filmmakers immersed themselves in the struggle, capturing fierce altercations and heated meetings between the women of the town, the striking miners, and those attempting to break up the strike. Tensions escalate, culminating in the murder of one of the strikers, leading to an agreement between the United Mine Workers and Eastover, but that only leads to more strikes.
Is It Any Good?
What is most striking about Harlan County, USA is Barbara Koppel's total immersion into the lives and culture of Harlan County, Kentucky, and the coal miners who live there. She and her film crew were there for 5 a.m. showdowns between the striking miners and the strike breakers on county roads, there as miners told stories and sang songs of their lives and living conditions on their front porches, there in the mines to show the incredible hardships miners faced each and every working day. She's even there when shots are fired from the strikebreakers.
This total immersion results in a riveting and intense documentary -- as informative as it is deeply moving. Harlan County, USA has stood the test of time as a courageous film showing courageous coal miners and their families as much motivated by ideals as they are by not having much left to lose.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how a documentary like this was made. What do you think were the challenges the filmmakers had to face before, during, and after filming?
What role does music play in this documentary, and how are the songs used in the film to tell the miners' stories?
Did anything surprise you in this documentary? Did you learn anything? What's the current state of unions in the United States?
Movie Details
- In theaters : September 28, 1977
- On DVD or streaming : May 23, 2006
- Cast : Houston Elmore , Norman Yarborough , Phil Sparks
- Director : Barbara Kopple
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Director(s)
- Studio : Criterion Collection
- Genre : Documentary
- Topics : History
- Character Strengths : Perseverance
- Run time : 103 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Award : Academy Award
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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