North Country (2005)

Director:

Niki Caro

Writers (WGA):

Michael Seitzman (screenplay)
Clara Bingham (book) ...

Release Date:

21 October 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

All She Wanted Was To Make A Living. Instead She Made History.

Plot:

A fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States -- Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit.

Plot Keywords:

Husband Wife Relationship | Mother Daughter Relationship | Dying Woman | Employer Employee Relationship | Hockey

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 11 nominations

Cast

Charlize Theron	...	Josey Aimes
Elle Peterson	...	Karen Aimes
Thomas Curtis	...	Sammy Aimes
Frances McDormand	...	Glory
Sean Bean	...	Kyle
Woody Harrelson	...	Bill White
Jeremy Renner	...	Bobby Sharp
Richard Jenkins	...	Hank Aimes
Sissy Spacek	...	Alice Aimes
James Cada	...	Don Pearson
Rusty Schwimmer	...	Big Betty
Linda Emond	...	Leslie Conlin
Michelle Monaghan	...	Sherry
Brad William Henke	...	Lattavansky
Jillian Armenante	...	Peg

Also Known As:

Class Action (USA) (working title)
Untitled Niki Caro Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for sequences involving sexual harassment including violence and dialogue, and for language.

Runtime:

126 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Malaysia:U (cut) | France:U | Hong Kong:IIB | Australia:MA | Japan:R-15 | Ireland:16 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:16 | UK:15 | Iceland:12 | USA:R | Netherlands:12 | Malaysia:18PL | Finland:K-15 | Brazil:16 | Sweden:7 | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

Chisholm, Minnesota, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The lawsuit which inspired this film was settled in 1998, 10 years after it was first filed and over 20 years after the harassments began.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the scene in Josey's kitchen, 3/4 of the way through the film, a bottle of Tums Ultra is on the kitchen table. Tums Ultra didn't exist in 1989.

Quotes:

Bill White: What are you supposed to do when the ones with all the power are hurting those with none? Well for starters, you stand up. Stand up and tell the truth. You stand up for your friends. You stand up even when you're all alone. You stand up.

Movie Connections:

Features "Alice" (1976)

Soundtrack:

Paths of Victory

Despite being a little preachy and over the top, North Country is still an effective drama

Charlize Theron is Josey Aimes, a single mother of two children who moves back home to Minnesota after her boyfriend gets abusive, and has to start working at the mine to earn a living. When she's put through all sorts of indignities from the mine's male workers, she gets a lawyer (Woody Harrelson) to help her file a class action suit against the mining company for sexual harassment.

After watching the trailer for North Country, I thought the film was going to be a very bad feminist movie but it's a lot more than that. Sure, the film may display most guys in the film as sexist pigs but it wasn't too overdone. Niki Caro captures all the relationships and all the situations so well. The relationship between Josey and her two kids was very well done and very moving. Her sacrifice for them was great and the film captured that so well. The relationship between Josey and her father was also pretty good and kind of hard to watch because he didn't help his daughter at first. The relationship between Josey and Bill (Harrelson) wasn't very good. They tried to push the romance at the beginning of the film but then completely dropped it. It seemed like a big waste of time and a lot of work for nothing. Caro did a fine job at capturing all the problems the women were having. Some were hard to watch because the situations were kind of disgusting but they were pretty realistic.

The acting, for the most part, is pretty good and strong. The best being Charlize Theron. She gives a very heartwarming and effective performance. Frances McDormand also gives a good performance though she didn't really deserve an Oscar nomination. Her performance wasn't bad, just kind of ordinary. Woody Harrelson gives an okay performance. He's not very convincing when he's in the courtroom but he's pretty good outside the courtroom. Sissy Spacek was in the film for about a total of 25 minutes. The trailer makes it seem like she's an important character but she was underused. Sean Bean gives an okay performance but he was a little weak during the serious scenes. Richard Jenkins plays Josey's father and he gives a strong performance as well. The only performances I didn't like were from some of the co workers at the mine. Most of them were pretty weak and most were pretty unconvincing.

The film is of course not perfect. It's a little over the top and preachy. They didn't beat their message into the viewers head but sometimes they did shove it down our throats a little too much. The only bad thing Caro did were the court room scenes. I thought the film was pretty realistic except for all the times they were in the courtroom. It was so cheesy and over the top. It didn't kill the movie but a more mature approach to them would have been better. The ending was also a little weak. It was too cheesy and it felt rushed. The film is over two hours long but apparently not long enough because not everything wraps up nicely. In the end, Norma Rae is better and so is Erin Brockovich but North Country is still a powerful drama that should appeal too most people. Rating 7/10