The other day in class we watched a movie called Harlan County USA. In eastern Kentucky in 1931 when mine operators locked out workers for voting to union. This movie  follows with precision and detail the development of such a long conflict, presenting the working and living conditions of the workers of Harlan, their demands, their positions, their organization to face the gunmen of the company Eastover Mining, the participation Of the police, nothing impartial, the police wouldn’t do nothing about the problem. But Barbara Kopple (the director) is not limited to this, parallel to the central action.

In my opinion, after watching the movie the strike that the miners and their families were doing, offers us three other blocks of information. First, the role of the women of the miners during the time the strike lasted. I think, seeing them stepping up and doing more action then their husbands, made me realize how much of important role this womans had  in this movie, and how would it have been if they didn’t step in. Secondly, the parallels between Harlan County’s current situation and the events of the 1930s, which earned it the name Bloody Harlan (the bloody Harlan) and, the decade-long conflict between miners and the coal operators who adamantly resisted unionization was violent miners and gun thugs lost their lives.

Finally, the role of folklore, its meaning and the mechanisms that originate it. A large  repertoire of songs, both traditional songs of mine and composed by the own protagonists of the action, serve as commentary on the film. This songs; folklore had a message behind of them. In addition, by singing the songs make them come and be together the miners and their families. These Folklore represents the past too, in what how they use to live .  It is a living folklore that has nothing to do with the prefabricated and canned country to which certain American cinema has us so accustomed. All of this makes Harlan County USA-and should-be seen for more reasons than its first and central intention.