American Dream (#1324)

Winner of the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, Barbara KopplesAmerican Dreamdetails the tumultuous 198586 labor strike against Hormel Foods in Austin, Minnesota. Fed up with dangerous plant conditions and drastic wage cuts, Austins Local P-9 went against the advice of its parent union and, aided by an activist campaign to damage the meatpacking giants reputation, conducted a nearly yearlong walkout. But as the strike dragged on, some workers found themselves desperate enough to cross the picket line, dividing a community already roiled by blockades, riots, and the intervention of the National Guard. Following up her landmark documentaryHarlan County USAwith another uncompromising report from the trenches of working-class America, Kopple captures the human and political costs of one of the most significant setbacks to organized labor amid the unchecked corporatism of the Reagan era.