Amazon.com Essentials:
Veteran director Martin Ritt (Sounder) directed
this earnest and very popular tale of a naive textile worker, widow,
and mother in the U.S. South who becomes empowered by standing up for
her rights in the workplace. Sally Field stars in the Oscar-winning
title role as a woman who has been content to go along with the status
quo until she realizes that she is entitled to more and can succeed if
she stands up for herself. Her fight to improve deplorable working
conditions at the textile plant causes a rift between her and the
people closest to her, but her determination brings a new awareness to
her and to all the women with whom she works. Ritt's typical, socially
conscious story uses the politics of Norma Rae's struggle and also its
emotions to build the film to a rousing climax. --Robert Lane
