THE BALLAD OF JOE HILL

Sweden, 1971, 118 minutes, Colour.
Thommy Bergrenn. (Sung by Joan Baez).
Directed by Bo Widerberg.

The Ballad of Joe Hill is a very fine film. Directed by Bo Widerberg who gave us the visual beauty of Elvira Madigan and the same beauty with a social conscience in Adalen 31, the film is as good as these and well worth seeing.

It is strange how yesterday's villains become tomorrow's heroes. Joseph Hillstrom, a Swedish migrant to the United States at the turn of the century, made his way - with more downs than ups - and gradually became an active socialist because of his experiences. Involved in a potential scandal, he avoided embarrassing a lady, and was made a victim of anti-socialist hatred in Utah and executed. This film is his ballad and Joan Baez sings his song.

As a piece of film-making on politics and social awareness, the film is very good indeed and Widerberg's colour photography is beautiful (a more modern version of Troell's The Emigrants and The New Land). Thommy Bergrenn (from Elvira Madigan and a Hollywood jaunt in The Adventurers) is engaging and convincing as Joe and some of his scenes, especially his execution, are memorable.

1. Did the film prove to be a ballad of Joe Hill rather than a developed character study? How did the words of the actual ballad, sung by Joan Baez illustrate the film? How important was this sung ballad, especially for the mood of the film?

2. How did the opening of the film create an atmosphere of optimism - for migrants arriving in a land of hope? How effective was the re-creation of the turn of the century New York streets and way of life - jobs (Joe sweeping in the bar), poverty (and the Fox stealing), desperate feelings (Joe chasing the Fox), loneliness (the letters back to Sweden)? The sequences of Joe and the girl listening to the opera?

3. What kind of person was Joe Hill, how typical of the migrants of the time?-How did Thommy Bergrenn portray him? How likeable and engaging a personal! was he? Why?

4. What picture of life all over America did the film give - what impact (emotional and intellectual) did the sequences of train-jumping (and the humour, walking the country, shouting from mountains, working in farms, being sent away - have on you?

5. How did all this change Joe's attitudes? How much had he suffered? What h, he learnt about the plight of migrants and workers?

6. What impact did his "You'll have pie in the sky when you die" song have? W. he fair to the Salvation Army? What point was being made? Did he have justice on his side?


7. Why did the men join him? Did they have the right to demonstrate and sing on the box? Why did people oppose them? What was the meaning of the gibes of "communist" etc., and the opposition and riots?

8. Why did Joe become a rallying point for workers and socialists?

9. Comment on the sequence where Joe enjoys his meal (and the wine) and then goes to wash-up with the consequent strike? Are moves like this justified? Why?

10. What was the impact of meeting the girl again? Why was he heroically discreet in keeping her out of publicity?

11. Were you shocked at his arrest? At the trial? What was wrong with his trial? Why would they not listen to him? What was he really being tried for? Would he have done his cause better by less emotional outbursts?

12. Did the film convey well the desperateness of the appeals (e.g. the interview with the President, the disregard of the Governor of Utah and his political worries)?

13. What kind of prisoner was Joe - the effect of his friendship with Harry; his refusing to escape?

14. The effect of his final meeting with his friends, his testament poem, his crossing 'the floor drawing of America on his way to death?

15. How effective was the execution sequence (and as a plea against capital punishment) - blindfold, struggle, fear, the relentlessness of the end, the executioners, especially the young man, the blank bullets and the anonymous barrels facing the prisoner, the chair, the doctor pinning the heart? What was the effect of all this at this stage of the film? What emotional effect did it have? Why?

16. Was the epilogue effective - the speeches, cremation, posting out the ashes? What comment was being made in their going up to dance?

17. What effect has a film like this in communicating ideas, political and social attitudes, emotional responses that could lead to political changes?

18. Was the film manipulating audiences? Was it propaganda? Was it convincing? Was it a good film? Why?