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Returnable | Yes |
---|---|
Resolutions | Eligible for refund or replacement |
Return Window | 30 days from delivery |
Refund Timelines | Typically, an advance refund will be issued within 24 hours of a drop-off or pick-up. For returns that require physical verification, refund issuance may take up to 30 days after drop-off or pick up. Where an advance refund is issued, we will re-charge your payment method if we do not receive the correct item in original condition. See details here. |
Late fee | A late fee of 20% of the item price will apply if you complete the drop off or pick up after the ‘Return By Date’. |
Restocking fee | A restocking fee may apply if the item is not returned in original condition and original packaging, or is damaged or missing parts for reasons not due to Amazon or seller error. See details here. |
Return instructions
Item must be in original condition and packaging along with tag, accessories, manuals, and inserts. Unlock any electronic device, delete your account and remove all personal information. |
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Matewan (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]
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Genre | Drama |
Format | NTSC, Subtitled |
Contributor | Chris Cooper, Mary McDonnell, David Strathairn, James Earl Jones, John Sayles |
Runtime | 133 minutes |
UPC | 715515236119 |
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From the manufacturer
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A rousing historical epic and ode to the power of collective action from independent auteur John Sayles
Newly Restored
Written and directed by John Sayles, this wrenching historical drama recounts the true story of a West Virginia coal town where the local miners’ struggle to form a union rose to the pitch of all-out war in 1920. When Matewan’s miners go on strike, organizer Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper, in his film debut) arrives to help them, uniting workers white and black, Appalachia-born and immigrant, while urging patience in the face of the coal company’s violent provocations.
With a crackerjack ensemble cast—including James Earl Jones, David Strathairn, Mary McDonnell, and Will Oldham—and Oscar-nominated cinematography by Haskell Wexler, Matewan taps into a rich vein of Americana with painstaking attention to local texture, issuing an impassioned cry for justice that still resounds today.
Director-Approved Special Edition Features
- New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director John Sayles
- Audio commentary featuring Sayles
- Two new documentaries on the making of the film featuring cast and crew
- New interview with composer Mason Daring
- New program on the film’s production design
- And more
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Product Description
Written and directed by John Sayles (Lone Star), this wrenching historical drama recounts the true story of a West Virginia coal town where the local miners’ struggle to form a union rose to the pitch of all-out war in 1920. When the town of Matewan’s miners go on strike, organizer Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper, in his screen debut) arrives to help them, uniting workers white and black, Appalachia-born and immigrant, while urging patience in the face of the coal company’s violent provocations. With a crackerjack ensemble cast—including James Earl Jones, David Strathairn, Mary McDonnell, and Will Oldham—and Oscar-nominated cinematography by Haskell Wexler (In the Heat of the Night), Matewan taps into a rich vein of Americana with painstaking attention to local texture, issuing an impassioned cry for justice that still resounds today. DIRECTOR-APPROVED TWO-DVD SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES • New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director John Sayles • Audio commentary featuring Sayles and cinematographer Haskell Wexler • New documentary on the making of the film featuring Sayles, producer Maggie Renzi, production designer Nora Chavooshian, and actors Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, Will Oldham, and David Strathairn • New interview with composer Mason Daring on the film’s soundtrack • New program on the film’s production design featuring Chavooshian • Trailer • PLUS: An essay by critic A. S. Hamrah
Product details
- MPAA rating : PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 3.99 ounces
- Director : John Sayles
- Media Format : NTSC, Subtitled
- Run time : 133 minutes
- Release date : October 29, 2019
- Actors : Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, David Strathairn
- Studio : The Criterion Collection
- ASIN : B07VFQMJJD
- Country of Origin : USA
- Number of discs : 2
- Best Sellers Rank: #11,854 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #1,852 in Drama DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
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‘Matewan’ delivers a message that is particularly timely at the moment, when a certain loudmouthed pseudo-‘populist’ frequently bellows that he will ‘bring back coal.’ In reality, the history of the coal industry in America is the history of the most brutal, violent clash between owners who viewed workers as fungible, expendable chattel and workers who risked life and limb to earn a living; and to organize and demand to be treated as fully human.
‘Matewan’ is based on real events - an uprising of West Virginia coal miners in the 1920s that culminated in an all-out war between owners, backed by the government and the military, and a ragtag collection of workers ready for armed conflict.
Coal mining employment peaked in the 1920s at around 850,000 and has steadily declined since, while coal production has steadily increased through the mechanization of coal extraction and the use of strip mining methods rather than extraction of coal through underground tunneling. There are just about 50,000 coal miners today - but the towns and countryside that once were or still are exploited for coal mining have been left polluted and devastated, environmentally and culturally. ‘Matewan’ stares this brutal history square in the face and doesn’t pull any punches.
As Sayles observes in one of the supplements to this disc, the script follows the ‘High Noon’ paradigm. Like a Kurosawa samurai film, the sense of foreboding relentlessly builds to a violent climax. If you’ve seen a number of Sayles films, you’ll recognize his stable of actors in their early years - David Straitharn, Chris Cooper, Maggie Renzi, et al. James Earl Jones just commands the screen and viewers’ attention here in a quiet, reserved and powerful performance. Haskell Wexler’s cinematography is nothing short of dazzling and beautiful — a stark contrast to the harsh reality of the plot. The music is riveting as well.
The script pounds home a consistent theme — again one especially relevant today — that the powerful who seek to exploit the working class use religion, racism and xenophobic distrust of immigrants to divide, distract and conquer, to connive working people to fight one another rather than resist their own exploitation. But as Cooper’s character says: ‘there are just two kinds of people; those who work and those who don’t.’ The union movement depicted here drew ‘those who work’ together as a unified force, across racial and national divides.
‘Matewan,’ along with the documentary ‘Harlan County USA,’ are must see movies for these times in America. Both are powerful cinema and powerful social statements.
The movie does open up some concerns about companies which demanded workers live in their housing, use their stores and only use script provided by the organization. The coal mining town related to in this movie is not the only place in America where this was required. Yes, it provided fodder for union's involvement in those early days of the 20th century. This story takes place in 1920.
Today many manufacturers realize the value of employees and pay them well, give good benefits and honor their family needs. Of course, there are those companies which have not learned the lessons of the past and will require radical change to value employees as people rather than tools.
This movie addressed that idea quite well. The actors were good in their varying roles. It is a movie you will watch more than once.
I am a proud Union man and the film is educational in showing the sacrifices that workers and their families made in forming defense organizations against the capitalists. I invite all millennials to watch this film. Although history doesn't repeat itself in the exact same way, we are going back to these days. The fight is for Dignity and Rights for All.
I was 21 years old when I first saw this film. I'm 54 now and I have seen so much. This film has been with me. This is a film that will impact your life.
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Please note this is region A but I have a region free player.
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