Salt Of The Earth Movie Analysis

Salt of the Earth was a theatrical drama directed by Herbert J. Biberman. The film was based on the actual strike against the Empire Zinc Mine in New Mexico. Its genre is a social realism and it was based on actual events. The movie has great ties to Malcolm Gladwell’s book David and Goliath, Underdogs, Misfits, and the art of battling giants. For instance just like Martin Luther King Jr. and his friends they had to overcome a giant in Sheriff Connor (Gladwell). The setting of the plot takes place in a miner town in New Mexico. The narrator Esperanza Quintero (Rosaura Revueltas) starts by talking about the original glory of the town before it was taken over and renamed by the cooperation of white Americans. Mrs. Quintero’s husband Ramon (Juan Chaon) …show more content…
The Anglo bosses felt that, “…[the] Mexicans out to be sent back where they came from,” is what Esperanza said. They felt that Mexican-Americans did not deserve the same pay as the Anglos workers. The Zinc Company also felt it was best to save money and have the miners not work in pairs, but it back fired when one of the workers got hurt. The company then tried to hire outsiders to continue the mine but it was blocked by the miners on strike. Companies are known to maximize profits and with certain decisions the miners saw a cut back that was deemed not safe. Even with the picketing going on, the company had the Sheriff (Will Geer) agitate them as much as possible by either arresting them or trying to hurt them physically. Trying to save money hurt the company in the long run because the miners went on strike for around eight months until the women had to step in and picket for another couple of months. What you also see is how greedy the company president is with his money. In one scene you see that he leaves to trips to Africa to sport hunt lions for