#barbara koppel

Recommendations 6-10:

6. MRS. AMERICA (2020), dir. Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, Amma Asante, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, Janicza Bravo (a limited series, not a film)

“WHAT HAPPENED TO WOMEN HELPING WOMEN?

The true story of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, and the unexpected backlash led by a conservative woman named Phyllis Schlafly, aka “the sweetheart of the silent majority.””

Availability: Available on Hulu with a subscription

7. HESTER STREET (1975), dir. Joan Micklin Silver

“A Russian emigre prides himself on the way he’s molded himself into a real Yankee in the USA, though the world he lives in, New York’s Lower East Side in the late 19th century, is almost exclusively populated by other Jewish immigrants. When his wife finally arrives in the New World, however, she has a lot of assimilating to do.”

Availability: Available for rental via VUDU and KinoNow

8. CRISIS: BEHIND A PRESIDENTIAL COMMITMENT (1963), dir. Robert Drew

“During a two-day period before and after the University of Alabama integration crisis, the film uses five camera crews to follow President John F. Kennedy, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, Alabama governor George Wallace, deputy attorney general Nicholas Katzenbach and the students Vivian Malone and James Hood. As Wallace has promised to personally block the two black students from enrolling in the university, the JFK administration discusses the best way to react to it, without rousing the crowd or making Wallace a martyr for the segregationist cause.”

Availability: Available with subscriptions on The Criterion Channel and HBO Max and available for rental on Amazon, YouTube, VUDU, and Apple TV

9. AMERICAN DREAM (1990), dir. Barbara Kopple

“THE AWARD-WINNING FILM OF AMERICAN LIVES, AMERICAN COURAGE, AND THE…

When workers at the Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota are asked to take a substantial pay cut in a highly profitable year, the local labor union decides to go on strike and fight for a wage they believe is fair. But as the work stoppage drags on and the strikers face losing everything, friends become enemies, families are divided and the very future of this typical mid American town is threatened.”

Availability: Available on Sundance Now and Amazon with subscriptions and free on Archive . org

10. FREEDOM ON MY MIND (1994), dir. Marilyn Mulford, Connie Field

“In 1961 Mississippi was a virtual South African enclave within the United States. Everything is segregated. There are virtually no black voters. Bob Moses, enters the state and the Voter Registration Project begins. The first black farmer who attempts to register is fatally shot by a Mississippi State Representative. But four years later, the registration is open. By 1990, Mississippi has more elected black officials than any other state in the union.”

Availability: Available on HBO Max with a subscription

Harlan County USA (1976) is ranked number 694 on the TSPDT list of the 1,000 Greatest Films.  It is a documentary on a violent strike by Kentucky coal miners in 1973.  Again, it is a film whose reputation rests strictly on its political content with a target audience of social justice warriors.

The film was directed by Barbara Koppel who was born in New York City and has 40 director credits from this, her first film, to 2017.  Almost all of her credits are for documentaries, with a few features here and there.  Much of her work has been on tv.  This is her only film on the TSPDT list.

I think it’s time to vent on all the documentaries on the TSPDT list.  Their placements on the list are all a function of their political content with absolutely no cinematic considerations  There is nothing wrong, and even commendable, with documenting social injustice.  But it is something completely different than creating a fictional movie.