Stories from the Mines - Pa. masterpiece
Mike Sublette at The Appalachian Book Company told me that he had a new film on Appalachia - “Stories from the Mines.” He finally got some copies, and I finally made it over to pick it up. What a great film - possibly the best film I have seen to date using re-enactments and historical footage to tell the history of our region.
Amazingly, the film was sponsored by many newspapers and other corporations who must be linked in some way to the ruthless plutocrats like J.P. Morgan who caused so much misery in the eastern Pennsylvania coal fields. I particularly enjoyed the re-enactments of Morgan “partners” trying to imagine what motivated him to do the things he did to other human beings.
I also really enjoyed the actors who portrayed the various ethnic groups - Irish, Eastern European, etc. The film director used just the right amound on screen to illustrate his point.
The conclusion of the film centers on the 1902 strike that led President Theodore Roosevelt to use presidential power for the working man rather than the plutocrats. John Mitchell, the young president of the UMWA, is presented well as is the lawyer for the UMWA, Clarence Darrow, who apparently began his brilliant career while fighting for the coal miners.
I love this film - and has joined the list of “best films on Appalachia” along with Bill Richardson’s “Mine Wars,” Terry Lively’s “Crossings - Bridge Building in West Virginia,” Appalshop’s Buffalo Creek films, “Harlan County, USA” and now “Stories from the Mines.”
