Renowned as the only American film to be banned in its native country, this rather amateurish drama about a miners' strike (made by openly Communist members, a number of which were blacklisted at the time!) inevitably recalls the masterpieces of Soviet propagandist cinema. Obviously lacking a comparable technique (notable here only in the cross-cutting between a man being beaten up by cops and the pain endured by his wife during childbirth), the socialist ideology often gets in the way of the film's undeniable moments of power - particularly the tension created when the strikers (and their wives, who eventually take up picketing themselves when a court order is enforced on the workers!) clash with authority. All things considered, despite its reputation as a classic of American cinema, I would say that SALT OF THE EARTH survives best as the important historical document it undoubtedly is.
Review of Salt of the Earth
