An Injury to One (2003)

An Injury to One is an experimental documentary film about Frank Little and the Anaconda Mining Company in Butte, Montana. Here is some basic information about this film which premiered in 2003:

** Writer and director: Travis Wilkerson
** Narrator: Travis Wilkerson
** Run time: 53 minutes

In this film there is information about the following topics which are closely connected with each other:

** Frank Little (1878-1917)
** The International Workers of the World (IWW)
** The Anaconda Mining Company in Butte, Montana
** The history of Butte, Montana, during one hundred years (from ca 1900 to ca 2000)

Frank Little was a union organizer who worked for the IWW. In July 1917, he came to Butte, Montana; a town that was dominated by the Anaconda Mining Company.

At the time, most American unions were reserved for white men and for skilled workers. The IWW had a different approach. This union was for men and women - no matter what their colour was – and for skilled and unskilled workers. Its slogan was: “One big union for all.”

The IWW was a radical union that wanted more than better wages and a safe workplace for its members. The IWW wanted a better world for the workers.

The Anaconda Mining Company extracted copper which was important for the development of industry. In April 1917, the US had entered the Great War which is now known as World War One. From this moment, copper was important for the war effort.

Frank spoke to the workers of Butte at two public meetings. Many of the workers supported his opinions about the current situation in Butte, in the US, and in the world. However, the owners of the Anaconda Mining Company did not want him around. They wanted him out.

On the night of 1 August 1917, six masked men gave them what they wanted: Frank was kidnapped from his boarding room in town. He was tied up and dragged after a car to the outskirts of town, where he was beaten up and hanged from a bridge.

The police were unable to confirm the identity of the perpetrators. Perhaps because some of the six masked men were police officers. No one was ever arrested for this crime.

What do reviewers say about this film? Here are the results of two review aggregators:

** 71 per cent = Meta
** 79 per cent = IMDb

If you ask me, both these average ratings are too high. Why? Let me explain. The film is very uneven. It is composed of three elements:

# 1. Images and narration. This element works very well. I want to offer five stars for this element.

# 2. Images and on-screen text. The words appear one by one. There is never more than one word on the screen. This method is unfortunate. I want to see a complete sentence on the screen, not just one word after the other. I cannot offer more than two stars for this element.

# 3. The songs of the workers of Butte, Montana. There are four songs. The melody is played by a guitar, while the lyrics appear on the screen. Once again, only one word after the other. Once again, this method is unfortunate.

When you sing in a karaoke bar, the screen shows a full line of text, while a colour bar moves from left to right to indicate where you are at any given moment. Travis Wilkerson wants to present four songs, but nobody sings these songs! Why not? This is very strange.

If he was able to find someone who could play the guitar, why was he unable to find someone who could sing the songs? I cannot offer more than two stars for this element.

When I add up the ratings for the three elements, I get an average of three stars.

The story of Frank Little and the Anaconda Mining Company in Butte, Montana, is important. It deserves to be told. I am sure Travis Wilkerson has good intentions, but good intentions do not guarantee a good result.

When we are talking about a film, a book or a work of art, the only thing that really matters is the final result. And in this case the final result is not quite successful. The film has some flaws, as I have shown above. Therefore I cannot offer more than three stars.

PS # 1. Frank Little: The Hobo Agitator is a documentary film which was shown on US television (PBS) on 25 April 1995. Run time: 29 minutes. It is available online.

PS # 2. The following reviews of the film are available online:

** Ed Halter, “Stealing Butte,” The Village Voice, 15 July 2003

** Dennis Lim, “A Second look: An Injury to All,” Los Angeles Times, 30 October 2011

PS # 3. For more information, see the following book: Frank Little and the IWW: The Blood that Stained an American Family by Jane Little Botkin (2017) (the author is related to Frank Little).

PS # 4. The following book was published in 2003: The Truth about the Lynching of Frank Little in Butte, Montana by Mike Byrnes and Les Rickey. Three years later it was revealed that this book was a case of plagiarism. Almost every detail in the book was “borrowed” from an academic paper written in 1972 by Bill Roscoe who was at the time a student of history. For details about this case, see the following items which are available online:

** Erin Nicholes, “Butte book on lynching plagiarized,” The Montana Standard, 7 September 2006

** Will Roscoe, “Unsolved Mystery,” The Montana Standard, 7 October 2006

PS # 5. The following items are available online:

** Hunter Pauli, “Who killed Frank Little?” The Montana Standard, 1 August 2016

** Rory Carroll, “The mysterious lynching of Frank Little: [The] activist who fought inequality and lost,” The Guardian, 21 September 2016

PS # 6. Travis Wilkerson is the director of several documentary films, including the experimental Did you wonder who fired the gun? (which premiered in 2017).

*****

 

Frank Little (1878-1917)

Union organizer for the IWW

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