Matewan is a small mining town in West Virginia and the film is staged during the early 1920's. The Stone Mountain Coal Company bosses announce a wage cut and the immediate response from the workers is an all out strike. A train arrives containing Italian and Black workers to fill the striking workforce. Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper) is also on the train and is a Union organiser whose task is to re-unite all the disillusioned factions of the dispute. Kenehan's task is to win the self-belief of the people and to educate them in the ways of controlled labour.

In the early years of the twentieth century, mine workers in West Virginia lived in dismal poverty. Forced into the 'truck' system, they were paid, not in cash, but in company credits. They had no choice but to spend their earnings at the company store, where the mine owners dictated and controlled prices. This included items such as food, clothes and other necessities. On top of this, each worker was obliged to buy his own… more »

Matewan is a small mining town in West Virginia and the film is staged during the early 1920's. The Stone Mountain Coal Company bosses announce a wage cut and the immediate response from the workers is an all out strike. A train arrives containing Italian and Black workers to fill the striking workforce. Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper) is also on the train and is a Union organiser whose task is to re-unite all the disillusioned factions of the dispute. Kenehan's task is to win the self-belief of the people and to educate them in the ways of controlled labour.

In the early years of the twentieth century, mine workers in West Virginia lived in dismal poverty. Forced into the 'truck' system, they were paid, not in cash, but in company credits. They had no choice but to spend their earnings at the company store, where the mine owners dictated and controlled prices. This included items such as food, clothes and other necessities. On top of this, each worker was obliged to buy his own tools and to pay for washhouse facilities.

'Few Clothes' Johnson (James Earl Jones) a mild and temperate man understands mining more than most and is appreciated by his fellow workers because of his approach to troubled times currently at the mine. He abhors violence of any kind and tries to find solutions to the local problems without resorting to aggression and violent behaviour, but he will fight to protect his people against their natural enemies - the agents of the mine owners.

At first the newly arrived Italians do not integrate well due to language barriers and again with the emerging Union agitation, they are seen as outsiders. The mine owners exploit the Italians as strike-breakers and for a time hostilities ferment on these Italian, Blacks and American fronts. Strangely, It is through the womenfolk that the antipathy between Americans and Italians is overcome. At first, the women are every bit as hostile towards one another as the men, as shown in the individual clashes throughout the film. Slowly, the never ending struggle to feed their families, co-existing together and sharing the same harrowing experiences of surviving such hard times draw the Italians and American families together in the fact that they appear more united than divided, culminating in the Italians joining the strike in support of unfair administration from the mine owners and their agents.

The Company now seeing their efforts of breaking the strike slowly deteriorating, bring in hired strong armed vigilantes to town - company men with the ultimate intention of finally suppressing the strike. Their unwanted presence ignites more trouble, and tensions escalate promoting increased scenes of aggressive violence in this volatile community.

The soundtrack, which accompanies the action and the genuine backdrops are in perfect keeping with what is in essence a true story. John Sayles, the Director consistently makes intelligent and meaningful films and with Matewan he has clearly reached his pinnacle.

David Strathairn, Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, and Mary McDonnell - everyone on the cast delivers a truly convincing performance. One cannot help feeling that you were really present and illustrates this often overlooked event in American history with a stark realism that will leave you pondering about it over and over, way after the final credits roll.