North Country

North Country (Director: Niki Caro)

NORTH COUNTRY has been nominated for 2 Oscars:

Best Actress: Charlize Theron
Best Supporting Actress: Frances McDormand






Caro directed the acclaimed Whale Rider. From the book, Class Action: The Story of Lois Jensen and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law written by Clara Bingham and Laura Leedy, adapted by relative newcomer Michael Seitzman. Familiar music comes from Gustavo Santaolalla, whose Spanish guitar strumming filled The Insider with some of its atmosphere.

Men are bastards! In much the same way that movies like The Insider, Quiz Show, and All the President's Men unfold, North Country has people who want to talk about shady dealings but are afraid to lose their jobs or their lives. It's been described as sort of a combined Norma Rae and Silkwood.

Set in the 1991 era around Anita Hill's testimony for the hearings of future Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, North Country tells the story of Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron), who is leaving her beating husband and pursuing a new life with her two kids (Thomas Curtis, Elle Peterson). She becomes a miner in a small Minnesota town, joining up with old friend Glory (Frances McDormand, dusting off her Fargo accent), who is a union rep for all the ladies working at the mine. It is very quickly apparent, from the demeaning, rather unnecessary gyno exam and the inappropriate talk of manager Arlen Pavich (Xander Berkeley), that this is a hostile environment--like the Sarajevo of sexual hostility. After awhile, the men go too far, and with the help of attorney Bill White (Woody Harrelson), Josey tries to change things for the better. Of course, her past is called into question, and the movie goes back every once in awhile to discover the truth, a truth she is afraid to admit and hence, causes problems. It's a truth that her parents (Richard Jenkins and Sissy Spacek) have yet to hear and have treated her in a rather slipshod fashion ever since.

Let me get the bad out of the way first because this is actually quite a good movie: The film will batter you with bastard men behavior. Immature drawings made to demean women. Over-the-top pranks. Shots framed in such a way as to include centerfold calendars. Behavior that is close to rape if not assault. Anything you can think of. I did, at one point, think that it was completely necessary--but it does seem to take awhile to push Josie over the edge. That's why I think all the "little" acts of sexual harassment could have been more quickly covered, and the edge-pushing stuff could have come a little sooner. But this movie is all about how people are afraid to act because it could mean the end of their livelihoods. It's up to you, of course, to decide whether the full-on assault of men behaving badly is too much for you to take.

Other than that, we have a great central performance from Theron, proving that she's arrived as an actress and the Oscar was no fluke. Sean Bean, as Glory's husband Kyle, is also very good. And of course McDormand is good, when is she ever not? Those are the standouts, but everyone is, at their worst, good in this. There's fairly ridiculous courtroom scenes in here--stuff that no one could possibly ever get away with, you know, like in all movie courtroom scenes. But this is an engrossing movie, worth watching.