Herbert J. Biberman's 1954 piece of social cinema Salt of the Earth is the perfect example of a film that could have had a much bigger impact if its cultural era were not so distorted. This movie revolves around a miner's strike in New Mexico and the feminist role reversal that went along with the story of the miners' wives. Unfortunately, this movie was blacklisted due to its writers and director and was unable to get its progressive message out to audiences of the time. Even though this film is not well-made by any means, its cultural significance surpasses much of the other cinema released during the blacklist era and provides for a decently interesting story.
This film follows Ramon and Esperanza Quintero, played by Juan Chacón and Rosaura Revueltas, a couple living in New Mexico during the miners' rights strike of the '50s. The film's supposedly main conflict revolves around Ramon and his coworkers' fight to get safer working conditions, but the true plot reveals itself to be the wives picketing for better living conditions. Even though these two protests were equally important to the people of the time, this movie tends to focus itself more as a feminist narrative. Not many films during this time had the gall or even will to do such, but this movie did not hold back on its story, flipping the genders' roles on their head. This was the most interesting aspect of the entire film, as it was very refreshing to see a story focused on women. Even though they were fighting for their husbands' and families' rights as well, the way that all of the women were portrayed was shocking, but in the best way possible. Many of the simple things about them, including the way they dressed, talked, and danced seemed like something out of a film that would be made today. Which, of course, is not to complain about the way they were represented, but quite the opposite. It was incredible to see all of the women's interactions and lives intersect as they formed their own protesting committee. All of these empowering aspects, unfortunately, make sense as to one of the reasons why this film was so controversial and eventually blacklisted. Audiences were not used to seeing such progressive cinema, which makes the cultural context of this film so fascinating today.
Despite this movie's best intentions with its feminist story, it was very difficult to watch. Michael Wilson's writing and Biberman's directing were great, as they seem to be the only technical aspects of this film that knew how to tell a coherent story. This movie was shot on location in New Mexico, which gave it a very earthly and realistic feel, unlike the amateurish cinematography. Stanley Meredith and Leonard Stark's camerawork was as dry as the dirt of the land this family was living on and displayed almost no creative efforts. The way this movie was filmed makes it look a lot more boring than the subject matter actually is, which was quite unfortunate. One minor part of the production of this movie that I purely enjoyed was its inspirational qualities. In many of the shots and set pieces, I could relate this story with that of similarly-structured films like Roma. These comparisons were fantastic to be able to draw, but the acting is what truly took me out of this environment. I appreciate the natural dedication to his craft, but Biberman should have stuck with trained actors instead of actual miners and wives during this strike. The acting from every cast member was very rehearsed and in turn, made every scene feel so ungenuine. I would have felt much more emotion towards the hardships these characters had to face if there was an assembled cast that could effectively do their jobs.
Salt of the Earth is an interesting take on a feminist story of the 1950s. Despite its production value being noticeably less-than-mediocre, the reason why and when this film was made gives it its best quality. Thankfully this piece of cinema has historical significance and a quick runtime or else it would not be nearly as engaging.
My Rating: ★★★
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