Written and Directed by John Sayles (PIRANHA, THE HOWLING) this 1920’s set drama based on real events, details the brutal battle between miners, strikebreakers and a corrupt coal mining company in a tense and emotional story of small-town poverty, bitterness and exploitation.
When union man Joe Kenehan (Chis Cooper) arrives in the backwater town of Matewan, West Virginia to organise a workforce to stand up against the Stone Mountain Coal company, he finds that instead of the men presenting a united force against their real enemy, they are embroiled in disputes between themselves as tensions rise between white miners and black workers. Despite all good intentions, the situation spirals out of all control and a bloody fight for livelihoods and dignity ensues.