Rating: 4.5/5
Men like my father cannot die. They are with me still — real in memory as they were in flesh, loving and beloved forever. How green was my valley then
The film is an episodic reflection by Huw Morgan on his childhood in a coal-mining village in Wales during the 1920s. The mine owner reduces wages, driving the union mine workers to strike, dividing his family into those who support it and those who don’t. The film details the lessons and tragedies that followed before Huw lost his father
We are not questioning your authority, sir. But if manners prevent our speaking the truth, we will be without manners
The film explores several issues within the context of Christianity, with Mr. Gruffydd — the village chapel’s pastor — being the moderate voice that finds a way to rectify both — the reliance on nature, the fear of unions, and others
Nature is the handmaiden to the Lord
Like any good Lefty movie, the film fetishizes labor, showing the Morgans as men who are more than happy to give their work but for a fair wage. When the son of the coal mine’s owner pursues and marries Huw’s sister, Angharad, we see how her estrangement from family and the rich lifestyle in which people cater to needs makes her physically ill
Some learned that there would never be work for them again in their valley
The cinematography is some of the most beautiful I’ve seen from American films in the 40s. The impressive 80-acre set and the numerous extras help it feel like an actual village (they wanted to film it in Technicolor in Wales but couldn’t due to WWII)
I was taught man is made in the image of God, not sheep
The film’s structure made it difficult to sustain interest in places, but it never took me out of the movie. Similarly, the film had a couple of saccharine, sentimental moments that felt at odds with the more realistic tone of the rest of the movie, but nothing offensive — it is, after all, Oscar bait
Overall, this is a striking and monumental achievement in American cinema that deserves more contemporary attention, especially in light of the current SAG-AFTRA strike
Stray Thoughts
- wild that this beat Citizen Kane for best picture
- These actors are fit! I don’t recall seeing such muscular boys in older movies
- Women reaching out and touching the train of the wedding gown as the bride walks past
- Any Welshman praying for the health of the Queen seems ahistorical, but I defer to more knowledgeable folks
- When the brothers find out the teacher beat Huw for fighting — “say the word, and we’ll have his bones hot from his flesh” — metal as hell