Archive for January 21st, 2009 Mother Lode Theatre for the premiere of Butte, America Growing up in a union household in a workingman’s town, I felt a strong bond with Butte, MT the first time I visited it. My father was the union president for the Fraternal Order of Police in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and he did his time working a union job in the rubber shops of Akron at Goodyear and then at Firestone, just as his father had. My grandfather helped form the first unions in the Akron rubber shops. I remember listening to my ‘ole man tell stories of the difficult conditions when he was building tires, conditions that the union always fought to improve. And I remember him telling me, that even as union power in America began to decline, that it is because of unions that American workers have many things that we take for granted, like eight hour days and five day work weeks. Remembering this, I very much looked forward to seeing Pam Roberts’ and Edwin Dobb’s finished documentary film, “Butte America”, which premiered in Butte last Saturday. Roberts, a Montanan, but not a Buttian, sought to tell a Montana story that had national significance, and she found her story in the dusty hills of Butte. She knew the challenge ahead of her and recruited Edwin Dobb, a Buttian who wrote the 1996 Harpers article Pennies From Hell: In Montana, the bill for America’s copper comes due. Dobb, who returned to Butte after a 25 year hiatus, was dragged “kicking and screaming” into the project, wary of “entering into such an extreme collaborative process”, being used to working alone as a writer. The time away gave Dobb perspective with which to help craft a compelling film. The duo formed a good team, creating a movie that spans 120 years of history — the rise and fall of the labor unions in Butte, and, by extension, in America. They capture the “feel” of Butte well, illustrating the ambivalence of a town’s dependency on “The Company” via footage with former miners, old timers who worked underground before they were “turned into truck drivers”, or just quit mining altogether when the pit mines opened, because their spirit was broken, their livelihood stolen from them. They were proud men who did hard work in the mines underground, and they helped to build America. But the story is more than just a story of workers and a boomtown gone bust. The story is a human one about the bonds that hard work can forge within a community, how hard work can actually become the defining element of a community. Those bonds and that sense of identity can be destroyed when work dries up. In the case of Butte, the work dried up as a result of corporate greed, when finally, mining left the town forever. More than this, though, is Butte’s story – a story of survival. Montana’s own Pat Williams introduced Roberts and Dobbs, speaking eloquently about Butte and its spirit of survival. Pat told the story of how he was able to get a job in the mines of Butte taking care of the miner’s tools, noting that it was because of his grandmother’s relationship with a local alderman that he was able to get the job. The crowd laughed knowingly, and it was that sense of camaraderie among those in attendance that I most enjoyed about the screening. The theatre was packed – a 1,200 seat building sold out. Some people were dressed to the nines, and Buttians young and old settled in for an evening of celebration of their town, their history and of themselves. One difficulty Roberts and Dobbs faced in making the movie was the lack of first-hand accounts available. Many of the people who were alive during Butte’s heyday are dead. Killed in the mines, or by miner’s consumption. Half of the characters in the film have died since the film was made. Those who are still living were in attendance, though, and stood to be recognized, to wild applause. Roberts gracefully used the live resources available to her to create a beautiful film that blends archive film footage and photographs, donated home movies, and recreations, telling an important story in American history. The screening was a gripping one. Now that the film is finished, it will be shown over the next year at various places across the country. There are talks in the works with PBS for distribution of the film. Roberts and Dobbs will also work to get the film into the hands of students in local communities, along with footage not included in the film, to create learning opportunities for students and encourage them to become more involved in their community through history and community pride. Pam has been working on the film with co-writer and co-producer Edwin Dobb since its inception in 2000. Along with the following screenings, the film will also be shown nationally on PBS and on Montana public television in the fall of 2009. To view links to the “Butte, America” press kit or to catch a sneak peak of the film “Butte, America” Screening Schedule: Emerson Theater (Bozeman) – February 6th @ 7:30 pm Myrna Loy Center (Helena) – February 21st @ 6:00 and 8:00 pm Butte, America Teaser & Press Kit [link]
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