Movie Review
North Country
Reviewed by Diana DeFazio and Jamey Bradbury
Inspired by a true story of the first successful class action sexual harassment case in the United States, North Country is set in the 1980s in a small town in northern Minnesota, and tells the story of how mine workers abused the first women ever employed by the town’s iron mine. The central figure is Josey Aimes (played by Charlize Theron), a single mom who seeks employment at the mine to support her two children after leaving an abusive relationship.
At the mine, Josey and the handful of other female workers pay a high price for making real money (four times the minimum wage). They are subjected to unbelievable cruelty and degradation by their male co-workers who believe the women are taking jobs from men and have no business in the mine. (The first women to work in the mine were hired in 1975 after equal employment opportunity laws required the rapidly expanding steel industry to provide a certain percentage of new jobs to women.)
Directed by Niki Caro (Whale Rider), the film is both stark and subtle. The outrageous mistreatment in the mine is hard to believe, but the incidents actually took place. North Country is not narrow in its portrayal of abuse, and this breadth and depth prevents it from being a diatribe against men. The film shows how women vilify each other and how family relationships and community culture set the stage for what takes place within the mines. And we see that blue-collar mine workers are not the only ones implicated in the abuse--so too are the white collar managers.
North Country does not dwell only on dysfunctional or abusive relationships. There is a good deal of subtlety and beauty brought to this film. A thoughtful screenplay and strong performances by supporting actors Richard Jenkins, Sean Bean, Francis McDormand, and others bring depth to an already compelling story. And Thomas Curtis does a superb job as Josey’s teenage son, Sammy. In the end, North Country does more than it had to in telling an important story.
Entertainment value: 3 stars
Meaning: 3 1/2 stars
Lack of gratuitous violence or sex: 3 stars
Lack of advertising: 3 1/2 stars
Overall quality: 3 stars
Emotional impact: 3 1/2 stars
(out of 4 stars)