Salt of the Earth (1954) YTS - Download Yify Movie

Reviewed by R T 10 / 10

Excellent movie that stays true to the history

Excellent movie that stays true to the history, it make you wonder how many great movies were never made because of blacklisting in Hollywood.

Reviewed by R T 10 / 10

A groundbreaking drama about the mistreatment of workers

A groundbreaking drama about the mistreatment of workers, minorities and women. It's far ahead of it's time.

Reviewed by Matthew B 10 / 10

For many years, Salt of the Earth was

For many years, Salt of the Earth was one of the hardest films to see in a cinema or on television. It would probably be easier to watch Triumph of the Will, Leni Riefenstahl's sympathetic documentary about the 1934 Nuremberg Rally held by the Nazis, Ivan the Terrible, Sergei Eisenstein's pro-Stalinist movie, or The Birth of a Nation by D W Griffith, one of the most racist American movies ever made. What is it that makes Salt of the Earth so objectionable? It is not racist or pro-Fascist. It does not support Stalinist autocracy as such. Perhaps the best summary of the problem is made in a Radio Times film book, which describes Salt of the Earth as one of the most left-wing movies ever made. Indeed the history of the making of Salt of the Earth is just as interesting as the film itself. The film was produced under adverse conditions, and it is a miracle that it was made, and has survived until the present day. Nonetheless it remains a largely unknown work that many viewers will have missed. The film was directed by Herbert J Biberman, a man whose career in mainstream cinema was cut short when he became one of the Hollywood Ten, a small group of members of the entertainment industry who refused to answer questions to the House Committee on Un-American Activities regarding his membership of the American Communist Party. This led to Biberman going to prison for six months, and being blacklisted by the film industry. Along with a number of former film cast and crew members who had suffered the same fate, he decided that since he had been blacklisted anyway, he might as well make a movie that was as communist as he could make it. The story is based on an actual strike held against the Empire Zinc Company. If the politics of Salt of the Earth seem naïve, we should remember that there really was a strike where the women took over the job of protesting, and the strike was successful in its goals. The film is far from inciting racial hatred, as some of its enemies suggested. This is an arrangement that does not help any worker. Cheap Mexican-American workers will undermine pay for Anglo-American workers. At the same time, complaints from the Hispanic labour force will lead to threats that the bosses will employ the ‘Anglos' instead. In one symbolic scene, a meeting turns into a dance. Anglo and Mexican Americans mingle harmoniously with one another, and the men and women get to mix too. While making Salt of the Earth, the film crew had to challenge some of their own prejudices. Originally it was intended that the two lead roles would be played by Biberman's wife and a non-Hispanic actor before the makers realised that they were guilty of assuming that Hispanic actors were not capable of playing the lead roles. For extra authenticity, Biberman uses the techniques familiar from neorealist films. There are only five professional actors on the set. The rest of the cast are made up of actual miners and their families, and people who participated in the original Empire Zinc Company strike. One of the commendable aspects of Salt of the Earth is that it is not concerned only with the rights of white working men, like some films with a leftist leaning. Consider a film such as Brassed Off, admirable in many ways, but focused on white men, and with a tendency to regard the wives and other women who try to help as misguided nuisances. In Salt of the Earth, the focus is on immigrant workers, but also on women too. Indeed we might regard the film as being more about the changing role of the miners' wives during the strike than it is about the strike itself. Biberman's cinematographic style is to film low shots showing the workers set against the sky, as they seek to elevate their position. There are many shots of large groups of men and women acting together to promote their solidarity. A brisk, almost martial music score makes us think of the workers rallying to victory. At the end, Ramon shows that he has learned his lesson when he tells a crowd, "Thanks, sisters and brothers". Critics of the film may call it anti-American, but what Biberman and the rest of the cast and crew are calling for is another kind of America, one that is not centred on a flag and patriotism, but based on creating better living conditions for the ordinary working American. We may dispute whether these aims are well-judged, but it is hard not to wonder why it is politically controversial for a country to adequately feed and house the families who labour for it. It is one of the tragedies that such concerns are reduced to the level of whether or not this is socialism, and whether or not socialism is bad, rather than being focused on what improves the lives of the poorest members of a society. Salt of the Earth represents an alternative path to the ones currently offered by mainstream politics, and one that is often closed down by politicians and the media. Whether or not we agree with what the film says, I think it is important to hear different opinions and ways of thinking, and not to suppress them. Too much conformity of thinking causes society to ossify and allows injustices to remain unaddressed. The issues raised by Salt of the Earth are as relevant today as they ever were, perhaps more so when the political consensus has moved away from them. I wrote a longer appreciation of Salt of the Earth on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2022/05/27/salt-of-the-earth-1954/

Salt of the Earth

1954

Action / Drama / History

Salt of the Earth

1954

Action / Drama / History

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Excellent movie that stays true to the history

A groundbreaking drama about the mistreatment of workers

For many years, Salt of the Earth was

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