Bisbee ‘17 is a documentary film which premiered in 2018. The topic of this film is the Bisbee Deportation, a dark and often forgotten chapter of American history, which took place in Bisbee (Arizona) in July 1917.
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Director: Robert Greene
** Camera: Jarred Alterman
** Historical advisor: Katherine Benton-Cohen
** Run time: 112 minutes
BACKGROUND
Bisbee is located in the southeast corner of Arizona, only seven miles from the US-Mexican border. The town was founded in 1880. The life of this town was based on extraction of metals: silver, gold, and copper.
The deposits of copper were extremely rich. Copper is used in the production of weapons.
The mining company was making good money. But the miners were not getting rich.
In April 1917, the US entered World War One. Suddenly, the demand for copper increased dramatically. The copper company could expect even more profits. But the miners were not happy with their conditions.
In June 1917, they decided they had to respond. They stopped working and began a strike. They wrote down their basic demands. They wanted:
** A fair salary
** A safe working environment
** Recognition of the trade union
They wanted to negotiate on the basis of these demands. But the leaders of the mining company refused to negotiate. They would not even talk to them.
Many miners were members of the I.W.W., the International Workers of the World, also known as the “Wooblies.”
The I.W.W. was a radical union which was against discrimination. The union accepted men and women, white and non-white members, skilled and unskilled workers.
The I.W.W. was also against the war. Therefore, the mining company regarded members of this union as traitors who were working for the Germans, even though this was not true and there was no evidence of this.
Many miners were recent immigrants. Perhaps a third from Mexico, a third from Eastern Europe, and a third migrant workers from other parts of the US.
A confrontation was building up in Bisbee. But there was no violence.
On 12 July, the mining company went into action: the local sheriff Harry Wheeler and ca 2,000 deputies rounded up almost 1,200 miners and forced them at gunpoint to the local stadium. From there they were forced to the railroad where they were loaded into boxcars.
Once the miners were inside, the train started rolling toward the east. Towards the next state (New Mexico). When the train stopped in the middle of the desert, the miners were unloaded.
They were told to fend for themselves. But they had no food and no water.
Before departing, sheriff Wheeler gave them a warning:
“Do not come back!
If we see you again, we will kill you!”
After this dramatic episode, the miners in Bisbee realized that they should not make any demands. There was no more talk about trade unions.
The deportation was not forgotten. But nobody talked about it. The work continued for decades. The last mine was closed in 1975. Without the mining industry, the town became smaller, but it is still there.
THE FILM
Bisbee ‘17 is not a traditional documentary where we have a narrator and a series of experts, also known as talking heads. The director has taken a different approach to his topic.
On 12 July 2017, the citizens of Bisbee organised a re-enactment of the dramatic events that took place in the town exactly one hundred years before.
It was an open-air theatre where many citizens were actors. Some played one of the 2,000 deputies, while others played one of the almost 1,200 miners.
Two brothers played two brothers: one was a deputy; the other was a miner. The deputy had to arrest his brother who was a miner!
This is what we see in this film. The re-enactment of events which happened in July 1917 and the preparations leading up to the special day. We see the actors as they prepare themselves for their roles.
Each actor has to understand his or her character. What were their feelings? What were the reasons for doing what they did?
The result is a film that is surprisingly balanced, because the story is seen and told from both sides: the mining company and the miners.
RATINGS AND REVIEWS
What do reviewers say about this film? Here are the results of three review aggregators:
68 per cent = IMDb
93 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)
60 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)
87 per cent = Meta (the critics)
51 per cent = Meta (the audience)
When you look at Rotten Tomatoes and Meta, you can see that there is a clear difference between the critics and the audience. The critics like the unusual and nontraditional style of this film, while the audience is not happy about it.
On Amazon there are at the moment 64 ratings, 23 with reviews. The average rating is 4.2 stars, which corresponds to a rating of 84 percent.
Here are the details:
5 stars = 60 percent
4 stars = 20 percent
3 stars = 7 percent
2 stars = 7 percent
1 star = 6 percent
CONCLUSION
For me, the biggest problem is not the unusual and nontraditional style. I can accept it. I can see it has a certain charm. For me, the biggest problem is the length of the film. It is too long. Almost two hours!
Even some of the critics, who are impressed by this film, admit that it is too long. The director should have cut it down to 100 minutes or better still 90 minutes.
While the topic is important, I cannot follow the professional critics all the way to the top and offer five stars. On the other hand, I think the general audience is too harsh when they offer only three stars.
I want to find a position in the middle. I think this film deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).
REFERENCES
# 1. Books
** The Great Bisbee deportation of July 12, 1917 compiled and edited by Robert E. Hanson (1990)
** Borderline Americans: Racial Division and Labor War in the Arizona Borderlands by Catherine Benton-Cohen (2009)
** Bisbee: Queen of the Copper Camps by Lynn Bailey (2010)
** Forging the Copper Collar: Arizona’s Labor-Management War of 1901-1921 by James W. Byrkit (2016)
** I’ll Forget It When I Die: The Bisbee Deportation of 1917 by Mitchell Abidor (2021)
# 2. Film and video
Fire in the Hole: Mine Wars of the West
Part one = 57 minutes
Part two = 57 minutes
PBS, Utah – 15 December 2015
*****
The Bisbee deportation of July 1917
Marching the strikers to the train
*****
The Bisbee deportation of July 1917
Loading the strikers on the train
*****
Sheriff Harry Cornwall Wheeler
(1875-1925)
The lawman who was in charge of
the illegal deportation of the strikers
*****
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