Salt of the Earth is a 1954 American film drama written by Michael Wilson, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, and produced by Paul Jarrico.

Shot in a style influenced by Italian neorealism, and making atmospheric use of New Mexico's landscapes, Salt of the Earth employed mostly local miners and their families as actors.

Esperanza gives birth and, simultaneously, Ramón is beaten by police and jailed on bogus assault charges following an altercation with a union worker who betrayed his fellows.

Herbert Biberman was one of the ten Hollywood screenwriters and directors who refused in 1947 to answer questions from the House Committee on Un-American Activities about their affiliations with the Communist Party USA.

After his release, and unable to obtain work in Hollywood, he met with fellow blacklistees about establishing their own production company and collaborating to make movies.

[3][8] Before production commenced in Silver City, New Mexico, the mainstream press already labeled the film dangerous and subversive because it was known to be the creation of blacklisted professionals, and because the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (a.k.a.

[5] The Hollywood Reporter warned readers that "H'wood Reds are shooting a feature length anti-American racial issue propaganda movie."

[9] As Tom Miller notes in a Cinéaste article, the early negative publicity made it difficult to assemble a film crew: "The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees—IATSE, an AFL affiliate—refused to allow its members to work on Salt of the Earth because of the movie's politics.

The rest were residents of Grant County, New Mexico, or members of Mine Mill, Local 890, many of whom took part in the strike that inspired the movie.

[11] According to one journalist's account, "During the course of production in New Mexico in 1953, the trade press denounced it as a subversive plot, anti-Communist vigilantes fired rifle shots at the set, the film's leading lady Rosaura Revueltas was deported to Mexico, and from time to time a small airplane buzzed noisily overhead ...

Pauline Kael, who reviewed it for Sight and Sound, panned it as a simplistic left-wing "morality play" and said it was "as clear a piece of Communist propaganda as we have had in many years.

"[15] Bosley Crowther, film critic for The New York Times, reviewed the picture somewhat favorably, both for its direction and screenplay:Salt of the Earth is, in substance, simply a strong pro-labor film with a particularly sympathetic interest in the Mexican-Americans with whom it deals....But the real dramatic crux of the picture is the stern and bitter conflict within the membership of the union.

And it is along this line of contention that Michael Wilson's tautly muscled script develops considerable personal drama, raw emotion and power.

[17] Although Salt of the Earth received limited distribution in Western and Eastern Europe in the 1950s and won awards there, it was nearly impossible to see it in the United States.

Representative Frank T. Bow (R-OH) said, "such films were painting a false picture abroad of the United States and that something should be done about it.

[13] The movie found a new life in the U.S. in the late 1960s and early '70s and reached larger audiences through union halls, college campuses, art houses, women's associations, and film schools, even though it was projected with a relatively poor 16mm stock.

"[24] In an interview, political commentator Noam Chomsky praised the film's portrayal of union activity: "[T]he real work is being done by people who are not known, that's always been true in every popular movement in history ...

The guards didn't realize it was an allusion to a Salt of the Earth scene in which the picketing Mexican-American women are arrested and thrown in jail.

[35] A documentary titled A Crime to Fit the Punishment, about the making of the film, was released in 1982 and directed by Barbara Moss and Stephen Mack.

[36] The title comes from a Paul Jarrico quote regarding the blacklistees who formed Independent Productions Corporation: "I have said that Salt of the Earth was our chance to really say something in film, because we had already been punished, we had already been blacklisted.

'"[14] The documentary premiered on May 1, 1982 in Silver City, New Mexico, with many of the surviving Salt of the Earth cast and crew members in attendance.

It was produced and directed by Karl Francis, starred Jeff Goldblum and Greta Scacchi, and was released in European countries on September 29, 2000.

Based on source material written by Paul Jarrico, the production features voice performances from Jon Hamm, Kate Mara, Ana de la Reguera, Bradley Whitford, John Slattery, Giancarlo Esposito, and David Strathairn, and was written by John Mankiewicz and Jamie Napoli.