Matewan

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Matewan, like Norma Rae (discussed earlier on this blog), is a well-crafted pro-labor movie. (If you want an anti-union corruption masterpiece, watch On the Waterfront, also analyzed here). This 1987 film from writer/director John Sayles (Eight Men Out) takes place in 1920 in Matewan, West Virginia. It starts in the dark mines with the coal dust smeared on a worker who coughs and has trouble breathing, showing the toll the job inflicts on its workers, as he digs a hole for a dynamite blast. The word gets passed around the men in the mine that the company is reducing their pay. The explosion that follows is a metaphorical one, too, since it reflects the angry and dangerous confrontation between management and labor that ensues.

 There is little gray area in this story, as the union is shown as good and the company is the villain. An aged voice narrates saying that the workers were trying to bring in the union while the Stone Mountain Coal Company and their armed thugs tried to stop any organized labor movement from forming. There then is a shot of the workers exiting the mine, giving the finger to men with rifles who look down on them from above, suggesting how the powerful control the more defenseless members of the workforce. 

The men go home to their impoverished log cabin houses at the end of the day. The narrator says the company didn’t care about the workers and paid only by the ton, and had total control without any negotiation as to how much they assigned as payment. The first song played tells how jobs are handed down from father to son throughout generations, since in areas such as this one, mining basically is the only job available. A civil war is about to take place here again, only this time over a different type of slavery, as the workers start to strike.

The actors nail the dialects in this film and the set design is realistic. Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper) is the union representative who arrives on the train along with black workers who do not know the company brought them in as “scabs” to break any chance of the strike succeeding. Few Clothes Johnson (James Earl Jones) is one of these African American workers and wonders why the train didn’t stop in town. He gets his answer as local coal workers show up and start to attack the new arrivals. The coal company thus pits worker against worker and stokes racial anger between whites and African Americans. The black workers get back on the train to escape getting beaten further. 

A representative of the company tells the black workers that the tools used for mining are lent to them, and their use will be deducted from their pay, which shows the level of exploitation that exists here. In addition to that cost, sharpening the tools, and the use of “the wash house” to get cleaned come with a charge, along with medical costs, housing, and utilities. They are paid in “script” so they receive no money to be used independently. They must make all their purchases at the company store. Thus, whatever they earn goes right back to the employer. The goal is to make the employees so poor they have no choice but to continue toiling to survive. Johnson raises a legitimate question as to what can stop the company from continually raising the cost of items to be bought. The company man doesn’t answer the question, and quickly sees Johnson as an agitator, asking his name most likely to identify him as a business risk. 

Mrs. Elma Radnor (Mary McDonnell) runs a boarding house where Joe wishes to stay. Her son, Danny (Will Oldham) and his friend, Hillard Elkins (Jace Alexander) show up, and Hillard has a broken nose which he sustained in the fight with the black workers. Joe says he’s seen his share of broken noses and asks for ice to close the blood vessels to stop the bleeding. Joe does not want to divulge his labor affiliation right away because he knows that it can generate hostility. Elma comments on how there is a male propensity toward negligent violence when she says that the men just want to get their “licks” in while the women and children starve. Joe suggests lenience as he says that the violence comes from frustration, implying the burdensome way they are treated causes anger. 

Joe talks at dinner about his past jobs, working on a railway line and at a lumber camp. Danny, who is only fifteen years old, says proudly that before the strike he was a miner despite his age, pointing out the sad fact that there are those even younger suffering in the mines. He notes that the company will never let a union man near the mines, so Joe’s trepidation is warranted. Danny comes off as an intelligent, articulate young man, who also preaches at local churches. Joe admits that he never was a religious type (maybe because he has seen too much injustice and suffering?) Yet, this film has many religious references in it.

Sephus Purcell (Ken Jenkins) takes Joe to see C. E. Lively (Bob Gunton). The meeting takes place at night, covertly, to shield them from the company’s wrath. Lively answers his door with a gun in his hand to show how dangerous being involved in union business is. The two men test Joe on his knowledge of union member history to verify that he is the representative the union sent them. The questions center on men who were treated violently for their union activity, which stresses the danger of trying to fight big business. Workers are inside Lively’s place and they tell of the horrible conditions that exist, and how the company makes them work under dangerous circumstances. Also, the wages decrease the same day that the prices at the store go up, which multiplies their misery.

While the workers voice their grievances, there is an evangelical church service also taking place. The shifting between the two meetings contrasts the practical and religious aspects of life here. The devout Danny, along with Elma, hear the preacher (the director, Sayles) saying that the devilish Beelzebub is among them. He is “the Lord of the Flies” (which sounds like a reference to the insect, but originally meant he was head of “the flyers” because the demons could fly. But the infestation slant makes it more ominous, as William Golding’s novel proves). The preacher says Bolsheviks, socialists and the union are in service to Beelzebub. The look on Danny’s face shows his traditional religious enthusiasm turning into disappointment as the sermon condemns what he believes to be positive forces. 

Back at the meeting, the men complain about the scabs, as the company’s desire to promote racial friction is working. The men there use the “n” word and voice an ethnic slur to refer to the Italians who the coal bosses also bought there. Lively wants to escalate the violence, advocating the use of weapons and explosives. Johnson heard of the meeting and shows up. He says he is no scab, just a miner like them, who works just as hard and wants the same wages. Joe, the man who is not religious, plays the role of secular preacher. He tries to diffuse the infighting by stressing the meaning of being a union member. He says it means that instead of seeing blacks or foreigners as enemies, which is what the company wants, Joe says there are only two sides, those “that work, and them that don’t.” The miners work, and those running the company don’t, and he stresses that they, despite their being different by race and ethnicity, must unite against those that profit from their labor. Joe is a good speaker, and compliments the men there by saying they are brave and would shoot it out if they had to. But, he argues that since the company, the state and the Federal Government are against the union, those entities are looking for any reason to come in with all their force to shut the workers down. He uses a metaphor they all know, which is dynamite, and says that if they light that fuse, their attempts at getting fair working conditions will explode in their faces. He says they have to work methodically to gain support so that all the workers walk off the job to show that no coal will be mined without certain demands being met. As if pointing these men toward a future diverse culture, he says they have “to get used” to a union that includes blacks and those from other cultural backgrounds. 

There is a shift again back to the church. Danny now stands in front of the preacher and the Christian cross as he symbolically puts them behind him, as he uses a parable about workers which ends with “the first will be last and the last will be first.” But he ends by saying that Jesus didn’t know about unions and would have advocated for decent treatment for all to ease suffering on earth. Danny’s sermon uses Jesus’s story to fit the plight of the workers in Matewan since they must suffer first to win subsequent rewards. From that point of view, Joe’s mission is biblical. In the meantime, Joe tries to get the Italian workers on board to join the union. Their leader, Fausto (Joe Grifasi), sees it as a no-win situation for the immigrants, saying if they don’t work, the company will shoot them, and if they do, the union will do the same. Outside, a guard patrols the area with a rifle, highlighting the incendiary atmosphere, the powder keg ready to explode. But, in contrast, a couple of white workers enjoy themselves by playing some music on a fiddle and guitar on one porch, as does a black laborer with his harmonica at another house. They listen to each other’s music and the metaphor of working in harmony is introduced. 

Chief of Police Sid Hatfield (David Strathairn) waits for the returning Joe, suspicious of the man’s late night talks with others. He warns him that Joe is a “dead man” if he brings danger to the people of the town. As we discover, Hatfield is a complex character who is not the company’s man. Speaking of company men, Hickey (Kevin Tighe) and Tom Griggs (Gordon Clapp) arrive on the train. They are agents from the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency who were contracted by Stone Mountain to do the company's dirty work. The bad guys in this film show no sense of decency. Hickey has a pleasant appearance but he is the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing. He talks to Bridey Mae (Nancy Mette), a widow whose husband died in the mines. She spends her time sitting on the train platform, symbolically caught between leaving and staying, possibly having turned into a prostitute, apparently hoping that she will meet a man to rescue her from her life of loss (perhaps her first name shows what she hopes for again). Hickey charms her so he can find out if Joe has arrived. He says she is pretty, and asks Griggs, who looks as cheerful as the Grim Reaper, if he agrees. Griggs couldn’t care less about the inhabitants and says nothing. Hickey shows condescension, and nastiness, when he says that Bridey Mae is the “best looking mountain trash” he’s seen in a while. He then calls the town a “shithole” which reveals how he detests the poverty that people like his clients have created.

Elma is hanging clothes as these people must continually work. She tells Joe how she, and others, lost their husbands in a mine explosion. She says coal dust lingers in the air and a spark can set off an explosion. Deaths can be prevented if the walls of the mines are sprayed, but the company says it costs too much money to spend time performing this action. The film is telling us that to the company monetary cost is more important than the worth of human lives. She is sorrowful as she says now Danny is in those same mines that ended his father’s life. But, she is afraid of Joe’s recruiting her son into organized labor. She says Joe will just move on but the people there have to live with the results of his actions. He argues that he will leave behind a union, which suggests that what he does will work to protect the workers after he is gone. His vision is for the long haul, but he also asks for individual sacrifice. But unlike the company, his goal is for the welfare of the many. 

Hickey and Griggs want to stay at the boarding house, but Elma tells the men that they have only one room. The aggressive Hickey says that someone will have to move out. Griggs follows his partner’s statement by saying that they were sent by the company which owns the building, so what they say goes. Unlike the words that are supposed to guide Spiderman, there is no responsibility that comes with power here, only bullying. Joe mitigates the situation by saying he has to move to the hotel anyway, and Elma, grateful for Joe’s unselfishness, tells the very reluctant Danny to sign the men in. Even though they get their rooms, Griggs says that the company will hear “about this,” implying that any resistance to the will of those in charge invites retribution. Joe understands the reality of the situation, even though he is unhappy about it, as he says to Elma, “sometimes you got’s to bends so’s you don’t break.”  In a way, Joe’s attempts at maintaining peace and his sacrifices are Christlike, even though he doesn’t attend church. 

Johnson teaches one of the inexperienced Italian workers where to place support posts in a mine. The African American worker puts safety first, unlike his employer, and also demonstrates his willingness to work together. Back with his fellow workers, Johnson hears the men complain that they can’t leave because they are indebted to the company upfront and if they don’t work to pay what they owe they will be considered thieves. They realize that this system is a form of enslavement, which they unfortunately know much about.

Hickey and Griggs are evicting a family because the worker is involved in union activity. The mayor, Cabell Testerman (Josh Mostel), says that the men have no jurisdiction off of Stone Mountain land. But, Hickey tells him that the house belongs to the coal company, so that gives them the right. Here is where we see the police chief, Hatfield, showing how he cares about the citizens, regardless of union or business affiliation. He says that Hickey needs a writ of eviction. Hatfield shows his disdain for Hickey’s slimy boss, Felts, by saying he “wouldn’t pee on him if his heart was on fire.” A person has to be pretty repulsive if he isn’t even worth one’s urine. Hatfield says if Hickey or Griggs bother people under his jurisdiction, he’ll arrest the two men. Hickey challenges him by saying with what “army” will Hatfield be able to stop them. Hatfield doesn't back down, and smartly gets his army when he tells all the workers present to get their guns because they are now police deputies. The movie is showing that sometimes strength must be met with strength if protection under the law is to work. Hatfield orders the family’s things be put back, while he rests his hand on his pistol for emphasis. Although Hickey agrees, he persists in challenging the man by saying Hatfield can't win this fight. Joe, impressed, and realizing the law in this town is not a foe, tells Hatfield he’s never seen a law officer stand up to a company’s hired thugs. His statement indicates that most of the time workers would lose the fight for decent wages and working conditions.

Joe’s attempt to prevent the local white workers from confronting the blacks and Italians fails as the vote is unanimous to stop the “scabs.”  Back at Elma’s boarding house, Hickey is bossy with Danny at the dinner table. When the boy refuses to pass him food, Griggs is demeaning after finding out Danny is a preacher, and says the young man just preaches to squirrels. When Danny stands up in anger, Griggs pulls out a gun and threatens the youth. Elma intervenes telling Danny to sit down, but he still refuses to cooperate and runs out of the house. Hickey warns Elma that she can either have things the “easy way” or “the hard way.” So corrupted are these men by the “might makes right” belief, they even are willing to threaten violence over whether or not some peas are passed around the table.

Joe tells Sephus that he hoped to stop the aggression toward the blacks and Italians, but Lively says there was a vote and that’s the end of it. Lively’s interest in inciting violence comes out later. (There is a shot of Lively ironically in front of a religious depiction considering his very non-spiritual intents). Danny arrives stating that the company is trying to sneak in a night shift for the newly arrived workers. The local men go to the mines ready to use force. But, Johnson, with the white workers behind him, and the company men armed with a machine gun in front of him, shows courage and sense by throwing the rented shovel down and telling the company representative that the tool belongs to them. The other blacks and Italians also throw down their shovels. Joe is jubilant, and tells the local workers to welcome their new “brothers’ into the union, saying no coal is moved without a union man moving it. Cooperation in numbers that addresses the needs of all is what the union is advocating.

Since the union did not have many resources, they couldn’t help financially or with manpower or influence to aid those on strike. The workers chip in to help each other, including Elma, who arrives with bags of stolen company food. She insists that even though she is willing to help she tells Joe he can’t win, so much are the odds against these pioneers fighting for their rights. A superstitious local woman, Mrs. Elkins (Jo Henderson) covers her face when looking in the direction of an Italian mother, Rosaria (Maggie Renzi), who has a statue of Mary, the mother of Jesus, with her, another example of the importance of religion in the lives of the residents. Elkins says Rosaria was giving her the “evil eye,” which demonstrates the prejudices that must be overcome for the various working groups to move forward together. Nevertheless, Danny says that he never saw everybody together like this before, and claims the company doesn’t “have a chance.” He brings his evangelical enthusiasm and optimism to the scene due to the promise of cooperation. But, the reality of the situation will emerge showing the difficulty of the fight which will alter his positive feelings.

Hatfield enters the store run by the mayor. Hickey and Griggs are sitting at a counter having drinks, and Hickey makes them an offer they can refuse, trying to bribe them. The mayor says the “the town can’t be bought.” Hickey only sees what is corrupt in people because he sold his soul, if there ever was on, quite a while back. So, he assumes that Hatfield’s stand concerning the evicted man was just a show for more bargaining power. Hatfield shows his morality when he says that he will lock up both men if they try anything to harm the citizens inside the town limits. Griggs reveals again the condescension the outsiders have for the locals when he says the “hillbillies” always have to do things the “hard way” (these guys like that phrase). In a way, he is unwittingly complementing these people for their resolve to do what is right. Hickey smiles and smiles, though he is a villain (apologies to Shakespeare). But then he drops the facade and shows his meanness when he says to the town’s leaders, “Don’t push your luck.” After the two men leave, the mayor asks Hatfield if Hickey and Griggs were bluffing. Hatfield shows the lines of battle have been drawn when he answers, “Nope. Neither am I.”

Joe tries to explain that the union relief fund is stretched thin, and there has to be an evaluation as to which effort gets how much based on need. The workers fear that they won’t get anything if the union decides they can’t win. But Lively says it’s politics, and they have to realize that. He seems to be saying that the men just have to deal with the reality of the situation, but he does not offer comfort to the financially strapped families. Meanwhile, the music metaphor continues as an Italian playing his mandolin joins the two local men who are again using their fiddle and guitar, while the African American plays his harmonica in the background. The story again stresses that unity brings harmony among people. The scene jumps back to Joe trying to calm the anxiety of the workers who question Joe’s argument that the union is a democracy, like the United States, since they feel that the republic has let them down. The alert Johnson hears something and tells everyone to get down as bullets fly through the tent where the meeting is taking place. As Hatfield said, the threat was no bluff.

Nobody was killed, but some were wounded, and Elma places blame on Joe. He doesn’t refute her, most likely because he knows that weighing sacrifice against rewards is not an easy task. She tends to the wound of one of the black men, and reassures him that when a doctor gets there they will treat black people, too. It is a horrible fact that at this time an African American might not receive medical attention because of his race. 

Mrs. Elkins and Rosaria are at it again, arguing over the safety of the meals they are preparing. Joe circulates through the crowd, seeking out any witnesses who may have seen who the shooters were. As he comes across the contentious women, he tries to make Elkins show understanding about how some people have different ways of doing things. To use the music metaphor, he is trying to create harmony out of discordance. Their differences are put on hold when Rosaria hears a train and assumes soldiers are coming to kill them. Elkins wonders where the men are. It turns out they are in a clandestine meeting where Lively undermines the union, saying it isn’t helping. He continues to advocate confrontation and he has an ally in Sephus. Fausto wants to stick with Joe’s plan, and Johnson knows there will be “hell to pay” if the blacks start shooting white men. Sephus asks the blacks and the Italians to leave since the visitors are not on board with the plan to start shooting. 

Hickey and Griggs drive into the workers’ camp which has been set up since the men on strike have been evicted from company housing. They have armed men with them, which Hickey says, with that false, nasty smile, didn’t get sleep last night. He is all but admitting that his men were the ones that fired their guns into the camp. To add pressure onto this boiling situation, Hickey says that the families took company goods with them and have to return them. They can’t buy anything with script since it was invalidated once they were on strike. Hillard, Mrs. Elkins’s son, comes forward and says Hickey has no legal rights. Hickey’s defiance against anything that is legal and just is exhibited when he punches Hillard and kicks him. Joe, trying to bring logic to a gunfight, says if there is no list of goods that belonged to the company, Hickey and Griggs don’t know what belongs to whom. Hickey and Griggs approach Joe, who says that he is unarmed and everyone there will testify that it’s murder if they shoot him. Hickey tries to assault Joe, who pushes back, but Griggs floors him with a jab. They pull out their guns, but “hill” men appear with rifles. Their leader says that the Baldwin-Felts men and their car scared the game they were hunting, so the men should get out. Griggs says they are the law (which is a reprehensible statement given their lack of respect for the legal system or any set of rules). That line doesn’t work here as the “hill” man says the only law is the one of “nature.” At least these people adhere to some type of code. Hickey knows how dangerous these guys are and says to Griggs that they should get out of there. After they leave, the rescuers tell the workers to keep the noise down, and that the pigs belong to them, but they can have the other game. They may be uncivilized and scary, but they are willing to help since, as Mrs. Elkins points out, they, too, have been victimized by the company that has seized much of their land. It is interesting that these “hill” people fought the union in the Civil War and now are helping a different kind of union. The story indicates that the battle against tyranny joins people of all sorts together.

Joe must have heard about the locals planning an attack but when he bangs on the door of Lively’s place, he gets no answer. Lively is inside telling Danny how to light the fuse on a pipe bomb, and he tells the boy to drop it down one of the shafts. It is upsetting to see the man use someone so young to do his dirty work. The scene shifts to the dinner table at Elma’s. Hickey and Griggs look menacing even when they eat. Hickey puts on his fake smile wondering where the other diners are. Elma says they are “particular” with whom they eat and starts to say if the place wasn’t owned by the company she wouldn't be there, either. But, the despicable Griggs interrupts her by saying she would be selling herself as a whore if it weren’t for Stone Mountain. After Hickey asks where Danny is, Elma silently gets up and leaves. In an extremely ironic line, the barbaric Griggs says, “Ain’t you got no table manners?”

Elma sits on the porch and is joined by Joe, as they both wonder where everybody is, and Joe implies something is up because nobody told him anything. Elma starts to sob as she relates how she has been constantly working after her husband died. Joe offers empathy by saying how difficult it is to be on one’s own. But, Elma, who has no union to back up being a woman in her situation, tells him he really doesn't know what it’s like for her. Then the bomb goes off, and Hickey and Griggs run out, saying they are “in business,” like they expected the explosion. They drive through town with several armed men, as Hatfield grins and says the comic understatement, “Might be some shootin.’” 

The local men are in the woods above the mine setting up what they believe is an ambush of the company’s men drawn there by the bomb. But they are the ones ambushed as Hickey, Griggs, and the others approach from a higher spot and start firing at the workers. Sephus is wounded, but hides near a fallen tree trunk as Griggs finds Lively who Sephus, and we, now see has been working for the company to incite the townspeople and give the company the excuse to use force in retaliation. Rosaria now helps Mrs. Elkins treat a leg wound, as they collaborate when attacked by a common enemy. The miners realize that the company thugs knew where they would be waiting, so they suspect a spy. Lively shows up at the tent after Joe has entered, and the traitor acts as if he is concerned about the casualties. Joe angrily reminds them that their violence harms themselves. But the wounded man acts just like the company wants, as he blames the blacks and the Italians for not being there to back them up.

The bleeding Sephus is found by a man and woman in the hills. The other workers look for hurt men and find a dead miner shot by the Baldwin-Felts agents. Lively, trying to sow seeds of discontent, says to Joe that he has his “martyr,” which is unfair as Joe says he tried to prevent the confrontation. Lively also works on dividing the townspeople by intercepting a love letter which Bridey Mae sent to Joe and then telling her that Joe exposed its comments and slandered her to humiliate Bridey Mae. He wants to frame Joe as the culprit when he tells her he believes Joe is a spy for the company. He persuades her to lie to the other miners by saying Joe raped her. Lively shows the workers a fake piece of evidence he says he found in Bridey Mae’s place that links Joe to the Baldwin-Felts agency. 

Danny brings towels to Hickey’s room and handles the man’s pistol. The image suggests how the company’s actions and the violence perpetrated by its agents have corrupted the innocence of the boy. He hears Hickey and Griggs coming and hides in the closet. He overhears Hickey telling Griggs how Joe will be killed based on Lively’s actions. But, he realizes his gun has been moved and finds Danny in the closet. He shows the young man a military decoration awarded him after he bayoneted several Germans in a WWI foxhole. The story lets Danny know that if the boy says anything, Hickey is very capable of killing him and his mother. The scene also shows how someone who was recognized as being a hero in war can also be a murderer in peacetime; thus, violence let loose takes its toll no matter the cause.

Johnson draws the short straw to kill Joe, after which Lively says to the man, “Welcome to the union.” Because of the person making this statement and the action assigned, we have a perversion of the union’s stance for positive cooperation. Johnson sits with Joe telling him that he’s supposed to stand guard over him if the Baldwin-Felts people come to kill him. At dinner time at the boarding house, Hickey and Griggs get drunk and use their leverage over Danny to mock the boy, his religion, and where he lives by saying that they know about hell since they are in West Virginia. They derisively sing a hymn about the “blood of the lamb.” There is a quick segue to an actual church service where the same song is sung and which shows the sincerity of the community’s devotion. But, ironically, among those in attendance are the inebriated, laughing Hickey and Griggs along with workers who have decided on ending Joe’s life. Their presence desecrates the faith of the other church members. The “blood of the lamb” refers to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for others, and thus, those that suffer for the sake of the workers and their families are likened to Christ figures in this tale. 

Sephus, convalescing in a bed at the home of the people who rescued him, tries to get up and tell the truth to the miners. But his wound is severe. Back in camp, we learn that Johnson fought at San Juan Hill. So, he too, is a war hero of sorts, but he contrasts in temperament with Hickey, who has made violence a way of life. Joe admits to being a “Red,” or communist, but jokes about how his type doesn’t use guns but only “little round bombs.” The thrust here is to dismiss stereotypes about people, which Johnson can identify with. He tells Johnson of Mennonites jailed because they were pacifists and refused to serve in the military during the war. They also did not wear any decorative clothing and took the buttons off of their prison uniforms. They were handcuffed above their heads and made to hang so that their hands bled and became useless. Joe says that they carried no weapons into battle and still showed immense bravery. Joe’s story exalts nonviolence above man’s baser, destructive tendencies.

We again have the back and forth between the religious and secular story lines as there is a shift to the church where Danny is preaching about Joseph and his coat of many colors. His story includes the presence of spies and a plot to frame Joseph by making it appear that he was involved with a woman of loose morality. Joseph was unjustly killed. Danny is trying to get his point across, as Jesus did, through a parable. Danny ends his sermon by saying, “Draw your own conclusions.” Lively is there, and he is not drunk, and he and some of the men present get the point. Lively leaves and escapes by swimming across the river. The miners get word to the conflicted Johnson that Joe was framed. He is very relieved that he can let Joe live. Sephus has come back to town and sets fire to Lively’s place. The miners now know of Lively’s duplicity. 

The elderly narrator returns saying how Joe’s innocence made him into a powerful force, most likely because the miners felt guilty about being manipulated into thinking he was a conspirator. Joe and Danny now preach the union gospel around the area. The union men, including the blacks and the Italians, bond together, playing baseball. When Joe has a catch with Danny, the young man asks if Joe ever killed anyone. Joe says he saw the futility of working people killing other workers and he went to prison because he refused to be sent to war by rich men and politicians, which is consistent with his beliefs that the powerful exploit common folk. Mrs. Elkins now brings food to Rosaria to help feed the Italian children, saying they are “all in it together,” which is what Joe has been saying.

Danny and Hillard try to poach some coal for the camp, but they are spotted. Danny hides under a railway car, but Hillard is caught. Hickey beats him and asks him to divulge the names of five union members. Lively is now with the Baldwin-Felts men. Griggs says he will kill Hillard unless he talks. Griggs fires bullets all around the man’s head. He cuts Hillard’s throat superficially, and Hillard gives them names. Griggs kills him by cutting his throat deeper. Lively says the names Hillard gave were of dead men who died on the job. The film shows us here one of those unselfish sacrifices made for the greater good. Danny later walks into the camp with Hatfield carrying Hillard’s body as the boy’s mother, Mrs. Elkins, cries. Joe looks devastated, and the men look at him accusingly, seeing the price that is being paid for Joe’s secular crusade. 

Baldwin-Felts reinforcements arrive telling Hatfield they are there to evict union workers off of Stone Mountain land, and they tell the mayor and Hatfield they won’t tolerate interference. The tobacco-chewing police chief spits, probably showing his disgust for these outsiders. After they move on Hatfield smiles to lessen the impact of his words, which are, “They’ve come to kill me.” His words about death connect to the shift to the graveside ceremony of Hillard. Danny does the eulogy, and he refutes the idea that God plans everything, including the death of the young Hillard. Instead he states a principle of deism by saying that God created everything and then, “we take it from there.” Thus, he places the blame for Hillard’s death on the actions of people. Sephus sarcastically asks Joe if he wants them to be as forgiving as Jesus and “turn the other cheek” to their enemies. Joe is Gandhi-like in saying that the company wants violence, so the point is don’t give in to their wants. But Sephus says that lethal force may be what the workers want now, as they may desire revenge. Sephus sees Joe’s desire for a union of workers that stretches far and wide as dwarfing the needs of what happens in this small community. Joe still asks for a meeting in the morning with the workers to prevent the fighting, A mournful song follows that ominously tells of the “gathering storm.”

The proverbial calm before that storm is depicted as the locals ready for what's to come. Danny, the boy of God. becomes the man of war. He readies his rifle as Joe visits him in a tent. Joe talks of wanting to help, but Danny is bitter. He says the coal company said they were there to help, but then took their land and impoverished them, making them suffer by getting the coal for them. Now Joe comes offering help, and Hillard won’t be able to see that help. Danny says they’ve had all the “help” they can tolerate. Elma quietly sneaks down the stairway of the boarding house and enters the room where the company assassins sleep, but one is awake, standing guard, and gives Elma a sly smile. The implication is that Elma may have had the elimination of the enemy on her mind. A sad but resigned Hatfield readies his gun for the shooting that will inevitably ensue.

Fausto wakes Joe and tells him that the men have gone to town, which means they had no intention of listening to Joe’s attempt to have them put away their guns. It begins to look like a version of the OK Corral as the company killers advance on the town as the mayor and Hatfield stand in the road. As the mayor protests, guns are drawn and as Joe yells, “No!” guns start blazing. The townspeople are hidden around the main street. There are many casualties. The unarmed mayor takes one in the stomach. Sephus shoots Griggs but is also wounded. Elma finishes off Hickey with rifle shots. Despite his earlier militant stance, Danny holds his fire and lets an unarmed company man escape. Hatfield survives and he surveys the battlefield as the mayor says all he wanted to do “was talk.” But here, guns drowned out words. Mrs. Elkins continues to fire shots into the lifeless body of Griggs for having killed her son, Hillard. Elma kneels (a religious genuflection?) and cries in front of the slain body of Joe who was killed in the crossfire. He may have been a stranger, but he sacrificed his life for the people of Matewan, not by fighting, but by trying to prevent the loss of life.

The camera focuses on Danny who stands near his grieving mother. It is his voice as an old man that is the narrator. The voice-over says that there was a trial for Hatfield, but he was acquitted. The mayor died from his wound. But the never-ending effect of revenge continued later as the cowardly Baldwin-Felts men shot and killed the unarmed Hatfield as he walked up the stairs of a courthouse, a symbolic act of contempt for the law that is supposed to protect citizens. The despicable Lively lived to put a final bullet in Hatfield’s head, and there was no trial for these acts which again stresses how the powerful literally get away with murder. The coal mine wars followed, says the elder Danny, and he says he continued Joe’s quest for the one big union that protected all workers, 

As the narration proceeds, we see a younger Danny walking into the mines to continue the work shared by so many other miners. His older voice says that Joe was buried with the men of the town who were killed as he finally was accepted in death by the people of Matewan.

The next film is Apocalypse Now.