01
Silkwood
Why this pick
A tough, deeply human working-class portrait of one woman confronting corporate danger, with the same blend of private messiness, moral awakening, and determined resistance.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1979 1h 50m USA
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
Norma Rae
Drama
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved Norma Rae, try these.
01
02
Blue Collar
Why this pick
Its factory-floor authenticity and anger at institutional betrayal echo Norma Rae’s labor politics, though its tone is more bitter and its solidarity more precarious.
03
Matewan
Why this pick
A tense, grounded union-organizing drama that shares Norma Rae’s faith in collective action, ordinary workers’ courage, and the high personal cost of standing up to management.
04
North Country
Why this pick
Like Norma Rae, it centers a working mother whose initially isolated protest becomes a fight for dignity among coworkers in a hostile industrial workplace.
05
Bread and Roses
Why this pick
Ken Loach brings a similarly direct, compassionate eye to low-wage workers discovering the possibility of collective power without smoothing over domestic and economic pressures.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
Norma Rae Wilson is a worker in a cotton mill that has taken too much of a toll on the health of her family for her to ignore their poor working conditions. She is also a single mother with two children by different fathers, one dead and the other negligent, and frequently has flings with other men to alleviate her loneliness and boredom. Initially, management tries to divert her frequent protests by promoting her to "spot checker," where she is responsible for making sure other workers are fulfilling work quotas. She reluctantly takes the job for the pay hike, but when fellow employees, including her own father, shun her for effectively being a "fink" to the bosses, she demands to be fired. Instead, she is demoted back to the line.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Sally Field
Norma Rae
Beau Bridges
Sonny
Ron Leibman
Reuben
Pat Hingle
Vernon
Robert Broyles
Sam Bolen
Booth Colman
Dr. Watson
James Luisi
George Benson
Vernon Weddle
Reverend Hubbard