Norma Rae lives in a small Southern town in her parents' home with two kids from different fathers. She's a good Christian (with "a lapse or two" as would say the priest) who goes regularly to the church and sings in the choir. Like her parents, like most of the townspeople, she works on the cotton mill, and she wouldn't be surprised if her children followed the same path. As the song says "it goes like it goes" and this is how things go for Norma Rae.
Martin Ritt directs every scene in the kind of documentary-like minimalism that was slowly fading from the screens in the late 70's, the New Hollywood parenthesis was soon to be closed for more commercial movies, and those like "Norma Rae" represented a last breath of freshness before the age of prefabricated entertainment. The realism of "Norma Rae" is constant, following a straight-to-the-point screenplay. As a result, it never loses its track by creating some glimpses of romances or sentimentality, as if it deliberately embodied the common attitude of the factory workers, real no-nonsense people who talk like they think and try not to think too much.
The film opens with pictures of a little girl; we recognize the eyes and smile of Sally Field. The point is to show that this little girl could have been any little girl, except that her background immediately conditioned her life. That's why she accepts it, and that's why most people accept it. It's not fatality but a form of wisdom, of acceptation that life is mostly made of struggle and effort, and that some places in the country are so modest the sun-rays of the American Dream can't touch them. The town epitomizes the darkest aspects of capitalism: less the minimum wages, the layoffs or the hellish conditions of work than the workers' submission to a modern form of slavery, and their reluctance to form a union.
The situation is unbelievable and intolerable, for us. But that's the crisis-stricken America of the 70's and people were no different from their elders of the Great Depression. And as I mentioned before, people didn't think too much, it obviously took some knowledge to speak about people's rights, and when education was lacking, silence was still a better option. "Norma Rae" chronicles the evolution of a woman who was no more or no less brave, intelligent or capable than her co-workers,but she was the first to follow an intruding union organizer from New York Ron Leibman as Reuben Warshowsky, because at least, she was the first to have faith in his fight.
And this faith doesn't come from nowhere. The film starts with Norma Rae's mother (Barbara Baxley) temporarily losing her audition because of all the machinery's noises, later, it's made clear that her father (Pat Hingle) has a heart condition. Norma Rae paid too much a price for the factory and Reuben's arrival coincided with a time where she couldn't take it anymore, before the power, she had the anger and that was enough. As for Reuben, he crystallizes everything Norma Rae is not, he's from the city, educated, street-smart, politically engaged, and even his Jewish background accentuates his status as a 'foreigner' and awakens a latent form of Anti-Semitism. But Norma Rae is fascinated by these differences because anything different from her world can't be that bad.
A total metamorphosis would have damaged the film's credibility, but Norma Rae changes without ever changing. It's impossible to review the film without applauding Sally Fields' performance that swept off all the main acting awards that year. With her nasal voice, short temper, and frail silhouette that contrast with the goons surrounding her, Norma Rae is the perfect incarnation of the 'little people', there's a fire burning inside her, but she's constantly underestimated and patronized. And with the help of Reuben, she'll learn how to raise her voice enough to be heard. The film tactfully avoids some clichés like having a romance, or turning her new husband, played by Beau Bridges, into a jealous and bitter man, it keeps focused on Norma Rae, her personal evolution and America's average working conditions in factories.
The evolution reaches a pinnacle during the film's most iconic moment, that elevated Norma Rae to one of American Cinema's greatest heroines. Forced to leave the factory, as a last resort, she writes UNION in a piece of cardboard and turns it to every worker. One by one, they stop their machine. At the end, the factory is silent but this time, it's an eloquent silence that exudes what has been restrained during so many years. It's a silence that resonates as the loud sound of solidarity. After the incident, Norma is put in jail, and finally breakdowns in Reuben's car, in what I thought, was the most powerful moment of the film, because true to life. Because that's how a real woman would have felt, no matter what Reuben had to endure, she was still the daughter of these American little towns where people have two names.
The following scene might be too sentimental but it's crucial because it illustrates the deep changes in Norma Rae's personality, she tells her children about her past, her present so that they wouldn't learn it from strangers. They listen, nod, and go to sleep, then she's joined by her husband and become again the loving housewife she is. Everything will be different from there, but her conscience is clear and she knows no one would ever judge her, because at least, she stood up for her beliefs.
And if "Norma Rae" is about anything, it's precisely the courage to stand up against injustice, even when we're alone, or especially when we're alone, because an injustice is only the sum of individual ones, and if they can't raise their voice, one must show the example. It goes like it goes but this is the only way it goes to victory ...
Martin Ritt directs every scene in the kind of documentary-like minimalism that was slowly fading from the screens in the late 70's, the New Hollywood parenthesis was soon to be closed for more commercial movies, and those like "Norma Rae" represented a last breath of freshness before the age of prefabricated entertainment. The realism of "Norma Rae" is constant, following a straight-to-the-point screenplay. As a result, it never loses its track by creating some glimpses of romances or sentimentality, as if it deliberately embodied the common attitude of the factory workers, real no-nonsense people who talk like they think and try not to think too much.
The film opens with pictures of a little girl; we recognize the eyes and smile of Sally Field. The point is to show that this little girl could have been any little girl, except that her background immediately conditioned her life. That's why she accepts it, and that's why most people accept it. It's not fatality but a form of wisdom, of acceptation that life is mostly made of struggle and effort, and that some places in the country are so modest the sun-rays of the American Dream can't touch them. The town epitomizes the darkest aspects of capitalism: less the minimum wages, the layoffs or the hellish conditions of work than the workers' submission to a modern form of slavery, and their reluctance to form a union.
The situation is unbelievable and intolerable, for us. But that's the crisis-stricken America of the 70's and people were no different from their elders of the Great Depression. And as I mentioned before, people didn't think too much, it obviously took some knowledge to speak about people's rights, and when education was lacking, silence was still a better option. "Norma Rae" chronicles the evolution of a woman who was no more or no less brave, intelligent or capable than her co-workers,but she was the first to follow an intruding union organizer from New York Ron Leibman as Reuben Warshowsky, because at least, she was the first to have faith in his fight.
And this faith doesn't come from nowhere. The film starts with Norma Rae's mother (Barbara Baxley) temporarily losing her audition because of all the machinery's noises, later, it's made clear that her father (Pat Hingle) has a heart condition. Norma Rae paid too much a price for the factory and Reuben's arrival coincided with a time where she couldn't take it anymore, before the power, she had the anger and that was enough. As for Reuben, he crystallizes everything Norma Rae is not, he's from the city, educated, street-smart, politically engaged, and even his Jewish background accentuates his status as a 'foreigner' and awakens a latent form of Anti-Semitism. But Norma Rae is fascinated by these differences because anything different from her world can't be that bad.
A total metamorphosis would have damaged the film's credibility, but Norma Rae changes without ever changing. It's impossible to review the film without applauding Sally Fields' performance that swept off all the main acting awards that year. With her nasal voice, short temper, and frail silhouette that contrast with the goons surrounding her, Norma Rae is the perfect incarnation of the 'little people', there's a fire burning inside her, but she's constantly underestimated and patronized. And with the help of Reuben, she'll learn how to raise her voice enough to be heard. The film tactfully avoids some clichés like having a romance, or turning her new husband, played by Beau Bridges, into a jealous and bitter man, it keeps focused on Norma Rae, her personal evolution and America's average working conditions in factories.
The evolution reaches a pinnacle during the film's most iconic moment, that elevated Norma Rae to one of American Cinema's greatest heroines. Forced to leave the factory, as a last resort, she writes UNION in a piece of cardboard and turns it to every worker. One by one, they stop their machine. At the end, the factory is silent but this time, it's an eloquent silence that exudes what has been restrained during so many years. It's a silence that resonates as the loud sound of solidarity. After the incident, Norma is put in jail, and finally breakdowns in Reuben's car, in what I thought, was the most powerful moment of the film, because true to life. Because that's how a real woman would have felt, no matter what Reuben had to endure, she was still the daughter of these American little towns where people have two names.
The following scene might be too sentimental but it's crucial because it illustrates the deep changes in Norma Rae's personality, she tells her children about her past, her present so that they wouldn't learn it from strangers. They listen, nod, and go to sleep, then she's joined by her husband and become again the loving housewife she is. Everything will be different from there, but her conscience is clear and she knows no one would ever judge her, because at least, she stood up for her beliefs.
And if "Norma Rae" is about anything, it's precisely the courage to stand up against injustice, even when we're alone, or especially when we're alone, because an injustice is only the sum of individual ones, and if they can't raise their voice, one must show the example. It goes like it goes but this is the only way it goes to victory ...