By Forris Day Jr.
“Salt of the Earth” is a 1954 film that focuses on a miner, Ramon Quintero, his wife Esperanza and their family. Ramon is a Mexican who works at a zinc mine in New Mexico. After some changes in policy that require the workers to work alone, as opposed to a buddy system, many of the miners become angry. The owners of the mine refuse to yield to the miners demands and a strike ensues. As the strike drags on the mine owners tactics become more hostile towards the workers until the men are banned from the picket line. The wives become involved and start holding signs at the picket line. This leads to more resentment from Ramon who firmly believes a woman’s place is in the kitchen and raising children. Tempers boil over as the strike continues with seemingly no end.
The film deals with the social issues of racism and women’s rights. There are only 5 professional actors in the film. The rest are real miners and townspeople. The story is interesting and the characters are intriguing but the movie is a bit slow moving. It is based on actual events and certainly makes you understand the value of unions in the workplace. These folks wouldn’t have been able to fight for better conditions if not for the union. I also hated the cops in the film. They were as nasty as people get and treated the people poorly. Their characters were memorable and created sympathy for the main characters.
Even though the movie does get rave reviews, I found it not that interesting and struggled to get through it, but what makes this movie notable is not the film itself but rather it’s history. It is the only U.S. Film that was blacklisted in the mid fifties. It never really took off till the early 60’s and had to be edited in secret. If you want to read more about this facinating aspect of the film check out it’s Wickipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_of_the_Earth_(1954_film)
Overall a slow moving film that I never really got into. It has a ton of history behind it which I found much more interesting than the film itself. It has a great message of standing up for what you believe in, something that many are afraid to do in these modern times.
Rating: 4.5/10 – “Not a film for everyone”
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