Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

KCurmudgeon I take issue with those who have said this is not an accurate depiction of Appalachian coal country, though I will admit it's probably more representative of parts of West Virginia than Kentucky. I spent 14 years in WV, my wife is from WV and her father grew up in a coal camp.My wife's grandmother didn't have running water or indoor plumbing until the '70's (heck members of *my* family didn't have indoor plumbing until the late '60's and I grew up in PA!).I have known many people in WV who sound very much like Holly Hunter in this film, and even dated a woman from the coalfields of southern WV with a similar accent.The geography also reminds me of WV (though admittedly it wasn't filmed there).All-in-all an excellent film, and it's hard to believe it represents events as recent as the '70's! We've (until recently) come a long way and we need films like this to remind us how bad things recently were and could soon be again (or worse re: last year's Utah mine disaster).

PeachHamBeach CAUTION: POSSIBLE SPOILERS...Brookside, KY, in the early 1970s. A coal mines roof has caved in and killed two hard working miners. Before the inspectors get there to see what happened, the big company has cleaned the mess hastily. They "graciously" tell Silas (Ted Levine) that they'll let him do "easy" work tomorrow. You'd think that after someone witnessed two hideous deaths, their boss would give them a few days OFF!!! But no, production is the priority, people are not.This made for cable film is kind of reminiscent of ERIN BROCKOVICH, pitting "regular" people, regarded as nothings by big greedy business, against the big greedy business.Holly Hunter is superb as Ruby, Silas' wife. She and her family live in a run down house with no indoor plumbing. She runs the household while her husband and father, who is dying of Coal Miner's Disease, are down in the mines.A union representative comes into town (Stellan Skaarsgard) and tries to convince everyone, including the coal miners' wives, that a strike is the way to fight the injustice of low wages, poverty, lack of medical benefits and suffering. These poor people are as oppressed and trodden upon as if they were actual slaves. At first the people are cynical about another union. The last union in town did they dirty with a capital D.But in time, the union rep makes these people see that they need to protest being used and then cast aside like bean pods. The biggest example of "we'll use your labor today and let you rot tomorrow" is the illness and subsequent death of Ruby's father. Soon the men, women and children of Brookside are involved in a bitter, violent strike. Nobody with any clout to speak of sides with them. Law enforcement have been deployed to thwart their efforts to keep "scabs" (men who will work even cheaper than the actual employees) out and to shut the coal mine down. What's really scarey is that back in the 1800's battles like these were even more violent. The bluegrass music of Appalachia was beautiful. Moments of banjo and fiddle and scenes of men jolly with moonshine were delightful and gave me a respite from the violence and sadness that permeates this film.I give it an A+

Grover-15 In the tradition of "Norma Rae," this honest and commendable account of the on-going "class warfare" in Bloody Harlan County between the coal mine workers and the mine owners provides a gritty history lesson, especially for young viewers unfamiliar with this vital chapter in our labor struggles. Holly Hunter is nothing less than magnificent, as is the entire cast superbly directed by Tony Bill. The authetic music of Appallachia aids considerably to this must-see film.

rduchmann Lowest-class working people go on strike for better conditions. Outside agitator helps foment discontent. Working class wife expands personally by taking part in the struggle. To a large extent this sounds like, and is, a 2000 remake of NORMA RAE, which is graced with a fine lead by Holly Hunter, and looks quite good considering it is set in Harlan County, KY, but filmed "on location in Toronto, Canada." Stellan Skarsgard as the labor organizer, and Ted Levine as Hunter's miner husband also deliver good performances, and entire cast is fine though most roles are smallish vs Hunter. Nice musical score.This film takes off from the documentary HARLAN COUNTY USA and has plot resemblances to NORMA RAE. The slant is unabashedly left of center and the performances and details ring true (except the dogs don't look like mountain dogs to me). Hunter is given a fairly brief, mostly-in-the-dark seminude scene that I found a little gratuitous (possibly the first time those words have ever crossed my lips). I didn't catch the credit, this viewing, for the little guy (he's about as short as Hunter) who plays her father, but he looks exactly right as a used-up coal miner and might have been cast right off the street in my neighborhood.Picture is set in the 1970s, with Nixon references and talk of wage scales that will sound unbelievable today. Sneak previewed on Showtime the night of 5/29/2000, this is a commendable fictionalization of the story told even more dramatically in HARLAN COUNTY USA, and easily the best premium cable original film I've seen in a long time. Martin Ritt would have made it even better but he wouldn't have been ashamed of this version. And which side are *you* on, buddy?