Salt of the Earth (1954) movie review
Herbert J. Biberman's Salt of the Earth may be the greatest working class movie of all time. Not only is it a rousing, detailed story about real people and real struggles, it's also a deeply feminist and anti-racist film, championing the role that women and Mexican-Americans have played in labor organizing all over the world. Salt of the Earth (1954) Salt of the Earth is the story of Zinc Town, New Mexico, a fictional town based on San Marcos, New Mexico. Corporate interests bought the land that Mexican-Americans had been mining for years and then "allowing" them to continue to work the mine, being paid low wages in company scrip while living in homes owned by the corporation. The plot begins when the Mexican-Americans began demanding the same treatment as white miners, resulting in Union leader Ramon - played by Juan Chacon, a real-life miner and strike organizer - being charged with "resisting arrest" after being brutalized. Things get even more complic