Synopsis
Barbara Kopple’s Academy Award–winning Harlan County USA unflinchingly documents a grueling coal miners’ strike in a small Kentucky town. With unprecedented access, Kopple and her crew captured the miners’ sometimes violent struggles with strikebreakers, local police, and company thugs. Featuring a haunting soundtrack—with legendary country and bluegrass artists Hazel Dickens, Merle Travis, Sarah Gunning, and Florence Reece—the film is a heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line.
Cast
Credits
| Director | Barbara Kopple |
| Producer | Barbara Kopple |
| Editing | Nancy Baker |
| Associate director | Anne Lewis |
| Principal cinematographer | Hart Perry |
| Cinematography | Kevin Keating |
| Sound | Barbara Kopple |
Disc Features
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director-producer Barbara Kopple
- Audio commentary by Kopple and editor Nancy Baker
- The Making of “Harlan County, USA,” a new documentary featuring interviews with Kopple, crew members and strike participants featured in the film
- New video interview with legendary bluegrass singer-songwriter Hazel Dickens
- Never-before-seen outtakes from the film
- New video interview with director John Sayles
- A panel discussion from the 2005 Sundance Film Festival featuring Kopple and Roger Ebert
- Original theatrical trailer
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
- New essays by film scholar Paul Arthur and music journalist Jon Weisberger
From the Current
Harlan County USA: No Neutrals There
by May 22, 2006The current popularity and cultural importance of documentaries would have been inconceivable in 1976, when Harlan County USA briefly ignited commercial movie screens. It was the dawn of the blockbuster age: the buzz around Jaws had barely receded, and Star Wars loomed on the horizon...
Related Films
The Auteurs Forum
Displaying 0 discussion topics.
