Canada Vignettes : Men of the Deeps, Cape Breton

Men of the Deeps is a moving portrait of a group of former Cape Breton miners gathered together by their love of song. They are all members of the Men of the Deeps chorus, whose performances of traditional and contemporary songs evoke their working lives as miners. The film shows Cape Breton as a land of astounding physical beauty: mountains dropping away dramatically into the ocean; stunning, luminous skies; rivers cutting their way through lush green valleys. Many of the men began working in the mines as teenagers, and this is the land they left behind every working day. We see them, coal dust filling the grooves on their faces, working side by side in a black pit where death can come at any time. It's a job to which most of the miners would return without a moment's hesitation. Featuring 16 outstanding songs, Men of the Deeps captures the grace and dignity of a group of men whose livelihood has been lost but who use their voices to inspire and uplift.

For 200 years, coal mining had been a way of life--and death--in Cape Breton. By 1920 things were looking up: miners were unionized and paid decent wages. Then the British Empire Steel Corporation arrived and bought every single steel and coal company in Nova Scotia. BESCO also owned stores, houses and land. Then the company cut wages by a third--setting off a bitter labour dispute. The miners tightened their belts and settled in for a long strike. Company stores were looted and burned, and finally in 1925 the military ended the unrest with brute force. But the miners, in an important sense, had won. They broke up the monopoly and provided an example to workers across the country.

A vignette on the travelling calliope.