Matewan

John Sayles writes and directs this US drama set in 1920s West Virginia. When the Stone Mountain Coal Company of Matewan announces yet another cut in wages, the miners are left with no option but to go on strike. The company responds by bringing in black and Italian workers to replace the striking miners, and for a while it seems that the three groups will come into direct conflict.

But union organizer Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper) manages to avert any such catastrophe by uniting all the workers into a single community ready to take a stand against anything the bosses throw at them, including the threat of violence....