Customer Reviews

American Dream

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This movie is so dramatically powerful, it's hard to believe it's real life. It's the devastating story of what happens to a small town when it's only industry turns against it. The characters are larger-than-life and the movie sticks with you long after it's over. The viewer is taken on an emotional roller coaster ride from the hopeful beginnings of the strike to the crushing end. Having family in Austin, MN (where the film takes place), I can say that this movie hits the nail on the head all too well. See this film. It's a truly moving experience.

This documentary traces the development of labor unrest at a company that is planning to make substantial reductions in employees' pay. The story is told primarily from the employees' viewpoint, and includes elements of corporate campaigning, local versus international union politics, internal politics, the strike, and loss of employees' jobs. The human perspective is fully developed including emotional peaks and valleys, the strife within families, the decay of relationships between workers, and the the affect on the community.

The documentary is extremely well filmed and very moving.

Though it doesnt achieve the dramatic heights of "Harlan County, USA" this film is nonetheless a moving and disturbing document of workers and unions in battle with management, organized labor, and themselves. I have to believe that the person below who cheered the "crushing victory" of management over people who want "to earn more for doing less" was joking. This is a film about meat packers, a thoroughly disgusting job if there ever was one, who try to organize against the Hormel company, which is trying to slash their wages by $2 (It seems to me like management wants to pay the workers less for doing more). Unlike Harlan County, USA, though, the conflict of this film is mostly within the ranks of labor. The battle between international and local unions and between different strategies is what ultimately undermines the the worker's chances for success. A cheery film this is not, but an important one that anyone who cares about our American system of labor and corporate culture should see, along with Harlan County, Roger and Me, and Matewan. Be warned that there are many shots inside the met packing plant, complete with the evisceration and decapitation of many many pigs. It made me very glad I don't eat pork...

This is the story of what happens when things get way out of control. Workers at a Hormel factory go on strike due to pay decreases and all hell breaks loose. They turn against each other over certain issues. It is a bleak and disturbing look at how low some people can go and the evil things they can impose on love ones and friends when "loyalty" is broken. Haunting.

AMERICAN DREAM (1990)
directed by Barbara Kopple and Cathy Caplan
approx. 98 minutes

This is a good movie on some of the problems encountered by the labor movement in the 1980s. It follows a local union protesting unfair treatment from their employer Hormel (of SPAM fame). The P-9 union brings in a NY hot shot Ray Rogers who instead of trying to negotiate attempts to "bring the company to its knees" by attracting negative publicity. This brings the local union into a dispute with the national representatives who are attempting to pursue a more traditional strategy. This causes such a divide that the two groups engage in namecalling and there is even a physical altercation at one point. The workers go on a 175 day strike and try to stay strong throughout, but going months without work puts a lot of pressure on families. When Hormel begins to hire "scabs" (replacement workers), some of the strikers make the tough choice to "cross the line" and have to face the humiliation of their peers. One especially moving scene shows a man disowning his brother for crossing the line. There are feelings of pride and sadness throughout, making this movie a sympathetic portrait of Midwestern working people.

This is a good movie for understanding the ideas and people behind labor unions.

"American Dream" breaks your heart. No matter what side of the labor movement you are on, if you are for or against it, you see its toll on the people involved, but also the hope it instills in a group. Personally, as a pro-union man who thinks that unions actually have a place in our society and are not something of the past, I felt that the movie also showed the lack of solidarity within the movement. Instead of a concrete effort to defeat Hormel, the union was set against itself somewhat at first, without the backing of the international. That, I believe, speaks to all people in society. You cannot accomplish things if you are not united... a good lesson no matter what walk of life someone is from, and something totally unrelated to unions that this movie tells.

My husband was part of that American Dream. He was a member of the union and a very active part of the strike. He was spit on by some of the townspeople and harrassed and made to feel like a rebel most of the time because he was fighting for something he believed to be important. The strike was a very hard thing for everyone, company and union members alike. In the end the strike was broken and so were peoples lives and families. But, the unions are still a very important part of the American Dream and unfortunately the companies get away with trying to take that away from the workers. The film was great and if you knew anyone that was invovled with it, it was heartbreaking to relive it. The author, however, should be commended for producing a great film.

I liked this movies alot because of the complex and intricate way it told the story of a union, who time had come and gone. So often, like Harlan County, union stories are merely Us against Them with no middle ground. In this film, it is hard to determine who the heroes are-- those who crossed the picket line to feed their families or those who stood firm on principles and lost their jobs.

There is probably only one villian-- Ray Rogers, whose self-promoting tactics cost the hard-working laborers who the film makes you love.

My father appears in this documentary. I'll pray for the individual whose review boasted enjoyment over viewing what he/she considers the "degredation and disintegration of the union members." I am the proud daughter of a Hormel striker, and experienced the bubble bursting reality that corporate greed reigned upon my then teenage naivity. After losing his farm, my father gained employment with Hormel, where he worked so hard he is still unsure whether he was wiping sweat or tears from his face while helping keep Hormel's gruling production line moving. We accepted the reposession of our family station wagon and endured all the tasteless meals of food pantry cornbread. We lost sleep worrying about the picket line crossing scabs who threatened my father's life and arson upon our home. I experienced ridicule at school from those who did not understand or respect what we rallied for. This is the story we are proudest of, one about other families not "degraded or disintegrated", but made stronger through personal sacrifice and attacks upon our character. Subsequent to his "disintegration", my 40 year old, union-proud father went on to achieve a 4.0 GPA in college and earned his CPA. We remain P-9 Proud and highly recommend this film.

With Kopple's fly-on-the-wall approach (the director spent months living with workers and their families), we experience all the mounting tension and frustration of an ill-starred strike, as ensuing events seem to call the organizers' judgment into question. And of course, the price isn't just wasted resources--there are jobs at stake. Kopple's unblinking chronicle of this painful, divisive episode reflects documentary filmmaking at its very best.