There is nothing fancy about this film. It just tells a story that has to be told. The events are based on a true labor dispute, halfway the twentieth century, between American miners and the trust that controls their mine (among many others). It is docudrama, using realism, and consequently what you get is what you see. This seems a good choice, considering that there are already too much ambiguous films about trade unions (for example, On the Waterfront, or the various Hoffa interpretations). There is little action, and the film shots are sober, but the suffering of the people guarantees that you remain focused (if you have empathy). Interestingly a part of the characters play themselves. The miners feel that their wages are unfair and decide to strike (with support of their union). The situation is particularly tense, since the miners are of Latin-American origin, and are discriminated by the mining company. Naturally the miners form a picket line in order to stop scabs, and they succeed in this intention. The company decides to begin a war of attrition, and the miners have a hard time, in particular since the local sheriff takes side with the bosses. If we may believe the film story, the police officers are not too lazy to harass the strikers and lock them up. It seems as thought the strike is lost, when the court rules that the picket line is illegal. But then the wives of the miners step in, and take over the picketing. After many months the trust finally caves in. At last a strike with a happy ending!

If a bit awkward and rough edged in form, a bit on the nose in it's politics, and a bit melodramatic in it's telling, this is an historically important early 'independent' film. Made by artists largely blacklisted from Hollywood for liberal beliefs, and/or for refusing to testify against others, this was the only film in America's history that was itself blacklisted, and kept out of theaters despite positive reviews.

Yet what it preached; basic dignity and rights for Hispanics, for women, and for workers could hardly be seen, even then, as a real threat to America -- had it not been for hysteria towards all things liberal, progressive, or intellectual –- those things being lumped in with communist revolutionary activity.

It's remarkable for a 1954 film to see an American film with all the leading roles being Hispanic, and played by Hispanics, not white actors in 'brown face'. Even more impressive is the film's early but potent feminist viewpoint.

The issue of women also adds a nice level of complexity to a story that could have felt too simplistic in terms of right and wrong. The male Hispanic workers are almost as guilty of oppressing their wives as the Anglo bosses are of oppressing their Hispanic workers. So there's an acknowledgment that everyone still had a lot to learn about creating an equal society in those days.

Along with the occasionally awkward acting (most of the cast were non-professionals) and occasionally too blatant speech-making, there are some very moving, human and inspiring moments.

And in a nice twist of fate, after being blacklisted from theaters and kept from the public, the film now resides on the national registry of important films.

Salt of the Earth is simply one of the greatest achievements in American cinema, not because it is exemplary in those aspects which usually make a film great, but because it excels in its ideals where so many others during the period were failing. The plot is deceptively simple. Mexican American men, along with a few whites ("Anglos" in the Mexicans' parlance), decide that their job in the mine is too dangerous and that they are treated unfairly compared to Anglo workers. They strike, putting their families through terrible hardships. While this film certainly has an agenda, it thankfully becomes more complex than just a Labor vs Management dispute. Perhaps an even more important theme is the relationship between the men and their women, wives, mothers, sisters. At one point, the Taft-Hartley Act is enacted (of course I mention the name because of recent events), and the miners can no longer picket legally. Their wives, who are asked, according to the local mores, to be silent, dare to pick up the duties of the strike. Not only is Salt of the Earth a brave champion of the worker and minorities, it has the audacity (in 1954!) to back women's rights. No wonder this was the only American film to be blacklisted.