Native Land

Native Land combined the foremost talents of American documentary film editing and photography with those of American music and theater. Raising its budget independently, its filmmakers took about five years to produce it. The epitome of the Frontier Films group’s style, Native Land  successfully combined reenacted scenes by professional actors, with actuality footage of both the American landscape and of workers’ struggles. The film focuses on the anti-democratic forces existing within the U.S. democracy.

Based on the Senate’s LaFollette Committee findings concerning union busting and the tactics of massive corporate labor spying in the 1920’s and 30’s, it is a significant pro-labor statement that begins by saying “the American people have had to fight for their freedom in every generation.”

With forceful and moving commentary sung and spoken by the great Paul Robeson, it reveals the web of conspiracy that comprised the anti-labor movement. It contrasts the acts of violence that suppressed workers’ constitutional rights with the public’s ignorance of those events. Finally, it depicts organized labor’s victory over its enemies in the 1930’s. It remains one of the finest examples of the radical social documentary, and is a watershed in its development.