"An American Classic. Easily one of the Best Films of the Year…" -Jeffrey Lyons, Sneak Previews/ INN

A small town in 1920's West Virginia explodes when unionist miners clash with the owners of a tyrannical coal company in this critically acclaimed film from writer/ producer John Sayles (Lone Star). Earnest labor leader Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper, A Time To Kill) arrives in Matewan to better the lives of the men and women in this "company town" through unionization. But in his efforts to organize the workers of the Stone Mountain Coal Company, he ignites a powderkeg of racial hostility, corruption and betrayal - and touches off one of the most violent incidents in the history of the Coal Wars of 1920-21. Mary McDonnell (Independence Day), David Strathairn (The Firm), and James Earl Jones (Clear and Present Danger) also star in the film that Leonard Maltin calls "compelling and compassionate… John Sayles makes ever note ring true."