The first Best Picture Winner I watched in 2011 was How Green Was My Valley. The story is about a Welsh coal mining family around the turn to the 20th century.
As seems to be the theme of any movie dealing with coal mining, this is a sad story. (SPOILERS) The father and one of the older sons both die in separate mine explosions/collapses. Four of the other adult brothers are forced to leave the valley in search of work elsewhere. The youngest son loses the use of his legs but regains it, only to go on to be a "scholar" and being beaten up by the school bully. Then there is the beautiful daughter who is in love with the preacher but he does not want her to live the poor life of a preacher's wife. The preacher turns her out and she enters an unhappy marriage with the boss of the coal company's son. While she is indeed rich, she is miserable.
I kept waiting for John Wayne to come into town and start arguing with Maureen O'Hara but it never happened. The film also starred a very young Roddy McDowell. I could see a very strong resemblance between him and the younger version of Anna Paquin, which is very odd.
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