The first time I read about the movie “Salt of the Earth” (1954), written, directed and produced by filmmakers who were blacklisted due to alleged communist activities, was years ago during an interview with influential linguist, author and activist Noam Chomsky. The Spanish and English-language movie is a narrative drama about an actual mining strike against Empire Zinc Company that occurred in Grant County, New Mexico, with a cast that features real miners and their families. One of the first indie films outside of the studio system, it’s also a rare and early example of a movie that addresses class, race and feminism in an unflinching way. Even though he admits he’s no movie critic, Chomsky considered it one of his favorites. It’s worth reading his longer comments from the book, “Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky” (2002):
Chomsky: “The real work is being done by people who are not known, that’s always been true in every popular movement in history. The people who are known are riding the crest of some wave. Now, you can ride the crest of the wave and try to use it to get power, which is the standard thing, or you can ride the crest of the wave because you’re helping people that way, which is another thing. But the point is, it’s the wave that matters — and that’s what people ought to understand. I don’t know how you get that across in a film … There are some films that have done it … I thought “Salt of the Earth” really did it.
It came out at the same time as ‘On the Waterfront,’ which is a rotten movie. And ‘On the Waterfront’ became a huge hit because it was anti-union. [It] was part of a big campaign to destroy unions while pretending to be for, you know, Joe Sixpack. So ‘On the Waterfront’ is about Marlon Brando, or somebody, who stands up for the poor working man against the corrupt union boss … There are plenty of union bosses who are crooked, but nowhere near as many as C.E.O.s who are crooked … On the other hand, ‘Salt of the Earth,’ which was an authentic and I thought very well-done story about a strike and the people involved in it –that was just flat killed. I don’t even think it was shown anywhere … I don’t know what those of you who know something about film would think of it, but I thought it was a really outstanding film.”
Michael Jones, co-founder of the James River Film Society, told me one reason they are screening “Salt of the Earth,” as part of a double feature this weekend at Studio Two Three, is to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the film. “[Originally] it played two weeks in New York and San Francisco and then [was] snuffed by exhibitors, who aligned/owned by studios, refused to book it,” Jones says via email, adding that it was later revived on campuses like Berkeley and Michigan in the 1960s. The movie was directed by Herbert J. Biberman, written by Michael Wilson and produced by Paul Jarrico.
If you haven’t seen it, now could be your chance to go check out a film that, having survived the Red Scare and American censors, was rightfully placed in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry as a historically important film in 1992. Here’s a trailer:
There’s another more recent movie on the bill as well, the Australian documentary “Ithaka” (2021) about the persecution of WikiLeaks whistleblower Julian Assange; whose former publicist used to live in the Fan near VCU for a short period (I know because I did a story about him and visited the home, looking through photos and hearing stories).
Receiving mixed reviews for his efforts, director Ben Lawrence reportedly wanted to make a family film about John Shipton (Assange’s dad) and his efforts to free his son. Critical takes from Variety described the film as being more about defending the cause of journalism than about Assange, the individual, while The New York Times felt it didn’t clearly explain and debunk the smears that it claims Assange was a victim of; though things have changed since those reviews were published. There’s even a play by Australian playwright Patricia Cornelius coming out about Assange’s life in 2025.
And there’s always plenty reason to see a film about whistleblowers or journalism, especially lately; not only is the professional field still increasingly decimated, leaving an informed democracy to wither in its absence, but this has been an especially brutal and sickening year, not only for journalists being killed in war zones, but for the huge, ongoing number of innocent lives that continue to be killed each day in the Middle East.
I have yet to see this particular doc, so I can’t weigh in. But I did message Assange’s friend and former publicist to ask him what he thought about it and he wrote back: “‘Ithaka’ is a beautiful doc about a father’s fight for his son.” There you go.
Two Films from the Left, presented by James River Film Society, features “Salt of the Earth” screening at 5:30 p.m. and “Ithaka” at 8 p.m. at Studio Two Three in Manchester on Saturday, Oct.19. Each film is $5.
