Alastair McLeod

Setting aside for a moment Contagion’s relationship to the pandemic, it must be said that this is a very well made film, with an exceptional cast, and would stand out as a highly entertaining thriller even if we’d never heard of SARS-CoV-2. However, as other reviewers have noted, the accuracy with which this “what if” story (released in 2011) anticipated the events we have been living through in reality since 2019 is astonishing. What was presented as fiction a decade ago has now in good part become fact. The people who were presumably consulted by director Steven Soderbergh (geneticists, epidemiologists, sociologists, and the like) saw the future in some detail, from the possible origins of the virus in Chinese wet markets to the successful production of a vaccine by Western corporations. If those experts were trying to warn us—and this film could certainly be seen as a warning—then obviously we weren’t listening. One way in which Contagion gets it wrong is worth noting. While it anticipated the paranoia, the grief, the suspicions of media exploitation, the distrust of government, the exhaustion of resources, and the false promises of relief, it did not anticipate the politicization of our battle against the virus. To do that, the film would perhaps have had to anticipate Donald Trump. No one saw that coming.

This film is a powerful drama about working men fighting what appears to be a hopeless battle against entrenched corporate interests allied with the police and the justice system. If it were nothing more than a compelling story, “The Salt of the Earth” would still be well worth the effort to find and watch. But it is more than that. It is also a historical document about the labor movement, and the persecution of immigrants in America. It tells the story of a union of migrant (Mexican) workers in a zinc mine in northern New Mexico that goes on strike to demand pay, benefits, and working conditions on a par with those enjoyed by "white" mine workers. We are now seeing in America something of a resurgence of organized labor after a period in which unions were nearly moribund. We would do well to remind ourselves of the ugly prejudice and violence to which labor organizations—and immigrant populations—have been subjected throughout American history. There's more. The mere existence of this film is testimony to a scandal in American history about which people now know far too little."The Salt of the Earth" was made in defiance of the efforts of the notorious House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC: think "McCarthyism") to suppress any expression of "communist" sympathies. "Communism" was not always a dirty word in American political life. The market crash of 1929, and the ensuing depression was more than enough to make thoughtful people wonder whether capitalism could make good on its vaunted promises, and to consider the alternatives being tried out in other countries. American corporations were determined to stigmatize and crush such thinking by any means necessary. ("Communism" has now been so thoroughly and rightly discredited that it has disappeared from political discourse. The word has been replaced by "socialism." The message is the same: such ideas are evil and un-American.) Finally, the film turns out to be prescient in recognizing and celebrating the power of women. The courage and determination of ordinary wives and mothers plays a decisive role in the outcome of the union's struggle—a role their husbands do not at first find it easy to accept! Only a few of the roles in the film are played by professional actors. This is truly a film of the people, by the people, for the people.