Matewan

(John Sayles, US 1987, 135 min., 35mm)

Labor Film Series. Based on the 1920 showdown between coal miners determined to form a union and coal company agents hired to prevent them, this is one of the classic films about American labor. Trying to unite the miners, organizer Joe Kenehan explains, “They got you fightin’ white against colored, native against foreign, hollow against hollow, when you know there ain’t but two sides in this world—them that work and them that don’t. You work, they don’t. That’s all you got to know about the enemy.” Seeing an original 35mm print of Haskell Wexler’s cinematography on the big screen is an experience not to be missed.