A young woman helps with the hard sell of unionising in a small southern town in 1979's Norma Rae. It's certainly a pro-union film and the screenplay doesn't even try to be even-handed--union dues are never mentioned. But the effective realism of the location shots and Sally Field's creative performance make it an absorbing film.
Norma Rae (Field) works in a textile factory. Employees suffer from low wages and their boss' lack of consideration for their health. Still, when a national union rep called Reuben (Ron Leibman) shows up and starts handing out pamphlets, no-one seems interested.
As time passes, Norma's life becomes more difficult after she gets married and struggles with balancing her family duties with her union obligations. There's also some effective romantic tension between her and Reuben. She's quite charming in the film, being both remarkably charismatic and convincingly normal, that rare, essential trick for a star in this kind of movie.
It's notable Norma Rae came out a year after Blue Collar, a far more realistic and complex take on the relations between union, employee, and employer. But even more than the automotive industry depicted in that movie, it's sobering to realise the textile industry depicted in Norma Rae has moved all factory work overseas to escape the very union Norma, and her real life counterpart, Crystal Lee Sutton, fought for.
X Sonnet #1882
The blameless morning fell before the end.
We'd carry weeks for trunks of falling suns.
Processions veered around the deathless bend.
A cagey man collected empty guns.
With double handed hammers, break the coke.
Courageous cougars clobber bouncer rats.
With certain bicycles, the brain's bespoke.
Your cave requires scads of screaming bats
A day absorbed in spells was spent with swords.
Conclusive weather apps deny the sky.
On clouds, the angels gather candy hoards.
A rain of bourbon fell to drizzled rye.
Refining light reformed the mirror bill.
Conditions shaped the dying egret's will.
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