Week 10 (Part 1): Norma Rae

The year was 1979. One of the more interesting ones for Best Picture nominees. I've seen winner Kramer vs. Kramer and also-ran Apocalypse Now, and I've always been torn between which one was more deserving. Kramer covers an important topic in an endearing and honest way, and Apocalypse is simply a spellbinding film. It turns out that I was remiss in omitting the year's other nominees from this debate.

Norma Rae is another of 1979's nominees. It is about a small town in North Carolina where most inhabitants are employed or otherwise connected to the non-organized textile industry. One of its most popular employees, the title character played by Sally Field, befriends a visiting, New York-native Union organizer and helps him spearhead the effort to unionize the mill.

This is a brilliant, captivating film that I want to watch again. Sally Field's Oscar-winning (Best Actress) performance is one of my all-time favorites, and Norma Rae is one of the best characters in any movie. Also, her supporting cast manages to bring a folksy liveliness to the film without devolving into caricatures. Beau Bridges is particularly good as Sonny Webster, her eventual love interest. 

It is not important for the purpose of this project to know where I'm from or what my values and beliefs are, but suffice it to say, I do have to admit that this movie spoke to me on a deeply personal level. History is often rewritten to portray unions as greedy and unnecessary. This movie is not a documentary, though, cleverly, much of it is filmed with hand-held cameras, giving it a documentary feel. I think that it honestly portrays the dangers and imbalances that exist where there is no opportunity for collective bargaining among a labor force. Not all of the "management" characters are outright evil and greedy, and not all of the "labor" characters are outright, hapless victims. The characters on both sides are not one-dimensional, but instead motivated by by a combination of personal circumstances, religious beliefs, racial biases, and sometimes idealism. The film shows us the ways in which the corporation preys on these motivations and does just enough to drive a wedge between the pros and the antis. We don't know until, literally, the end of the movie, whether those who would benefit most from the union will even vote to institute it. That right there is edge-of-your-seat drama.

With apologies to Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore, Norma Rae is the best movie of 1979 I've seen so far, and I give it a score of 9.0.

(I wish there were a better selection of scenes from Norma Rae available on YouTube to post here, but unfortunately there are almost none.)