Norma Rae (1979)

I read the article "30 Must See Movies for B-School Student" on The Economic Times (6 August 2011) and I was intrigued. I thought "Wow, I can learn something from watching movies? Super!".

So, I'm starting with "Norma Rae", for which, Sally Field won the Academy award among others. You can learn that sometimes it takes one person such as Norma Rae, a young mother with two children and a string of bad boyfriends, to help form a union for the stressed workers of a textile company in a small town. It takes perseverance and grit to lead the way. Anyone can shake things up and be a leader if they had the stomach for it. It also helped that Norma had a supportive family behind her while she did what she felt was right (in the case of the union) and what she felt like she wanted (in the case of her relationships). This was a time when women were not considered quite equal and a (bad) reputation sticks for life. I like the scene when her tired dad tells her that he'd come over and take her for a nice dinner since they hadn't seen each other for a while. I like the scene when Norma tells her young children about her past and their respective dads knowing that tongues would wag after her night at jail. I like the scene when Norma's husband tells her that he is going to watch her grow old if she'd gotten herself in jail and had made her only call to somebody else.
The movie initially reminded me of "North County", which is about the happenings of a woman in a male dominated industry, but the subject was quite different. Norma Rae made a good movie on a quiet, rainy afternoon. Enjoy it, if you can.