North Country

Plot synopsis:
Josey's life leaves much to be desired when we see her waiting by the Christmas tree with her pre-adolescent son and younger daughter, alone in the house. Her husband drives up. And we next see her lying on the floor bloody after hes beaten her. At that point, she wastes no time packing up her stuff into her pick up truck and moving herself and the kids out of there never to return. They move to her parents home in northern Minnesota. This living arrangement is not much better. At the very least, she and the kids are safe from her husband. But the minute her father observes her face, he has to ask her if the husband caught her with another man. He clearly has no respect, whatsoever for his daughter. Her mother, more nurturing (played by Sissy Spacek), encourages her daughter to reconcile with her husband and take him back, without regard for the fact that he is abusive. Neither parent has a clue or any respect for her.Josey works temporarily washing hair in a local salon when she runs into an old acquaintance, Glory (Frances McDormand), who informs her that there are some good paying jobs available to women at the iron mines. Knowing that her father works there, Josey realizes that applying and working there will not go over well with him. But Glory informs her that she would be making as much as he makes. Realizing she doesnt have too many options, that the iron mine job pays 6 times what she makes washing hair, she has kids to feed and she cannot live with her parents forever, her choices are pretty clear. So she goes and applies.Of course, before they can hire her, they have to do a pelvic exam in order to prove that she is not pregnant. She and the kids move in with Glory and her husband after she's applied for the job. Next, we see her and the other women at their orientation. Her supervisor makes it very clear that he does not approve of women doing the type of work that they are hired to do. And he answers the very obvious question of why, in that case, does he hire them in the first place? He clarifies to them that the Supreme Court mandates that the company hires women whether he likes it or not. And given that the guys are forced to let the women work with them, we can clearly see that they are determined to make their working environment unbearable all the while they are there. The first thing that is revealed is the reason why the company requires the pelvic exam for all women before they start. The supervisor all but spells out that it is completely unrelated to any medical protocol.When the women start working, they get introduced to their shift leader who is clearly relishing the opportunity to abuse and sexually harass them. And Josey looks at his face and remembers he is Bobby Sharp, her old high school boyfriend. She also remembers an old teacher she had many years ago who observed the two of them together.When the women start working, they see pictures and profanity with their names written on the walls. The guys talk filthy and intimidate them. And they discover obscene surprises in their lunch boxes and lockers.Josey goes and talks to the supervisor about the unacceptable working conditions. But he clearly states to her that nobody wants her there and nothing is going to change. So what can anybody do?It looks like not many people intend to quit. What other jobs pay enough to live on in a town like that in the 80s? Josey finds herself making enough to get a home loan, buy a house and provide all the stuff that her kids want and need.There is an uphill battle for the company to provide porta-johns for the women. Glory explains to management that it takes women longer to use the bathroom than it does men since they must pull down their overalls and cannot simply whip it out within seconds. And as soon as there is a porta-john for women, a worker named Sherry goes to use it. They guys stand around and inform her that they have taken a big dump in it before she enters. When she goes in, they surround it and tip it back and forth. And they knock it over with her in it. The filth spills all over and she is hurt and very traumatized. But what can she do about it?At that point, Josey is determined to do whatever it takes, including taking a day off work to drive into the city for a formal meeting with the owner, Mr. Pearson. He tells her he will "help" her by arranging for her immediate resignation. But she protests that she does not intend to quit. Hearing that, Pearson concludes in that case, she needs to spend less time stirring up her female co-workers, less time in the beds of her married male co-workers, and more time developing her job performance. These are the accusations that not only the company charges her with. But all over town, rumors go around that shame and disgrace her in front of her kids, parents, friends and co-workers. Her son tells her she is a whore and disrespects her. He is only responding to what he hears about his mother.One day, things get way out of hand at work. The women are all called to clean up a big filthy mess which looks like defecation on the wall. And Bobby calls Josey to do a job for him. She goes with him to a private place and he attacks her. At that point, she announces that she quits. She goes and finds a lawyer she's met through her friends (Woody Harrelson). She tells him she wants to file sexual harassment charges against the company. He tells her that he does not want to get involved in it. Although he is not disputing anything she says, he warns her that she will be ripped apart in the courtroom and they are not likely to win. But he later reconsiders and asks if she can get the other women to corroborate her story so they can file a class action suit. At first nobody wants to help her. Glory, who at that point, is in the hospital, dying from Lou Gehrig's disease and not able to work anywhere anymore, is not about to help her and she demands Josey leave her alone. Josey, then asks Sherry who asks Josey what if they lose? She will have to go back there and face those sons-of-bitches. She knows they can get away with doing whatever they want. The others conclude the same thing, realizing its easy for Josey to make noise since she no longer has to work there. But one night, Josey enters a town meeting with her lawyer. All the guys are sounding off about the false charge shes made against Bobby. The women are also at the meeting and none are arguing. But Josey demands they let her talk. And lo and behold, her father comes to her defense after hearing the way these people are trashing his daughter. And he gets up and announces although he's worked with them for his entire life, he is disgraced by them and very proud of his daughter.Josey and her lawyer start the court hearing even though they are presently alone. Her former co-workers are all present in the courtroom after having been asked to sign affidavits that she is lying. Pearson has hired a woman lawyer who does not hesitate to rip Josey apart, asking her about her sexual history and the fact that nobody else believes what she is alleging happens at the mine. Yet the lawyer has privately warned Pearson that he may not win his case. All it takes is 3 plaintiffs to bring charges against him and new sexual harassment laws will be in effect all over the nation. Throughout most of the trial, nobody speaks up except Josey. The lawyer has even subpoenaed her old teacher with whom she has been accused of having a sexual relationship when she was 16. She realizes the only witness of her involvement with the teacher is Bobby Sharp, since he was her previous classmate, present right before the teacher raped her. Bobby obviously knew what happened yet did nothing. And to this day, he affirms that she was not raped. She chose to have sex with the teacher. But others know better. Josey's father suddenly stands up and goes to physically attack the teacher for raping his daughter. And he gets removed from the courtroom for his outburst. Josey's lawyer finally coerces Bobby into admitting that he had witnessed Josey's rape and had run away as he was too afraid to stand up for her. Josey's lawyer then makes a speech that a courageous person stands up for what is right, even if they are alone, like Josey. At that point, Glory suddenly motions, from her wheelchair, in the back row of the court-room, that she backs Josey. Josey's lawyer reminds the judge that they only need three plaintiffs to file the class action. And they now have two. At that point, Sherry stands up. Then the woman beside her stands. Then we see many people all over the courtroom standing including both men and women at the mines and Josey's parents. Next, we see her life back on track. Her teenage son plays hockey with her lawyer and he wants his rich mom to buy him a car. She reminds him that he is still too young to drive. But when she is driving him home, she decides she will teach him to drive. It looks like she is finally living a life of quality and being respected.

Tags: romantic, flashback

Review:
The sound effect and country-feel soundtrack are quite good too.Charlize Theron deserves all the recognition she got for giving a strong, confidant and heartfelt performance as the brave hard-working and headstrong Josey Aimes.
Though 'North Country' isn't without its share of flaws (it is a little preachy and sometimes too dramatic), it brings forth some important themes well enough and with the support of good direction and strong performances, it's worth watching..
There is a whole confluence of constantly orchestrated pressure applied against all female miners intended to get them to resign.Charlize Theron (Who won the Oscar for best actress in MONSTER in the role of the only female serial-killer in U.S. history, Florida's Aileen Wuornos) as expected, is absolutely magnificent as Josey Aimes, a woman whose only motivation is wanting to provide a better life for her two children.
Gradually, her unshakable character, her unparalleled courage and the enormity of the injustice committed against her finally begin working in her favor.North Country at times does exhibit some rather lethargic moments, but the cast and the quality of the story are so outstanding that is easy to overlook this minor flaw.
I hate to give North Country a relatively low vote because this is such an important issue, and I appreciate the good intentions of director Niki Caro, and the A-list actors who no doubt took a big pay cut when agreeing to take a role.On the other hand, I feel disappointed, a little angry, as well as insulted as a woman that this hugely important story was made into a melodrama that flattens out what really happened, and somehow manages to diminish the political nature of sexual harassment, even while seeming to highlight it.At least 90 percent of the problem had to do with Michael Seitzman's script.
The manifest absurdity of the last 15 minutes of the movie undermined (for me) what was otherwise another excellent performance by Charlize Theron and the usual outstanding work of Frances McDormand.
Her career, her life and her family are all sure to be affected as things reach breaking point.North Country is inspired by the 2002 book Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson, which details the landmark case of Jenson V Eveleth Taconite Company that changed the sexual harassment law.There is always a danger in film land that serious, based on facts topics get too much of a Hollywood sheen.
When divorced,single mom Josey Aimes(Charlize Theron,who's definitely NOT afraid to get dirty or uglified for a role)begins work in the rural Minnesota Taconite mines--where her father(Richard Jenkins)has worked a long,secure job--even she isn't prepared for the kind of mental,verbal and physical abuse she and her fellow women receive from the fellow miners who(surprise!)don't cotton well to ladies working in the pits with them.
She soldiers on for a number of years before she finally has had enough and decides--after being already ignored by management when she complains--to quit and bring a class action suit against the company,fully aware that she is almost alone in this pursuit,save the somewhat reluctant help of a local lawyer and former hometown sports hero(Woody Harrelson).I wavered on what rating to give this show for these reasons: the acting and visual direction of this film IS,I must confess,quite good.
Credit practically the entire cast for the former,and director Niki Caro and cinematography of Chris Menges for the latter,but the overall tone of this movie is 1)very familiar stuff tot the point of reeking of "TV Movie" material, 2)manipulative by a mile, 3)hits on each emotional note--from the sort of "Girl POwer" quiet assertions of the film's script to the overt nastiness displayed by nearly all of the males working the mines--almost in a perfect cue; 4)the fictionalizing the stories,then mixing the time-lines from the actual case the movie and the book it was based on (namely,Jenson v.
Eleveth Mines,filed in 1984,settled in 1998;whereas the film is set in 1989 and almost instantly flips to Septemeber 1991,circa the Anita Hill/Clarence THomas hearings,with the events-to-case trial time relationship murky at best);and 5)the sort of "feel good" third act denouement where the town,once boorishly stubborn against the idea of women working in the mines to being stirred by Ms.Aimes' case.
An extra storyline of Aimes being raped in school and thus affecting,at least partly,her condition as being a troubled single mom who has a murky knowledge(or lack thereof)of the paternity of her equally troubled son is probably the most emotionally authentic storyline in this movie,but it feels mixed in for purely embellishment sake in this story,thus calling into question just how much this movie truly represented the true events being retold.A famous saying says what good intentions pave the way to,but I think in this case good intentions pave the construction of a film that is underwhelming and somewhat disappointing.
The three main actresses did a phenomenal job in the movie, and I do not think the film would have been as successful if Charlize Theron, Sissy Spacek, and Frances McDormand had decided to not be involved in this project.
The feel-good feminism of Niki Caro's *Whale Rider* from a couple years back becomes a passionate tirade in her new film, *North Country*, based on the landmark sexual harassment case involving miners in the northern Minnesota iron mines.
Despite the fictionalization, the movie serves as a timely crash course on how recent the legality of women's safety in the workplace actually is: the characters in the film watch clips from the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings.
A big, bold actress, dangerously beautiful, she attacks the Powerful Moments with great confidence, leaving all that subtlety stuff to the rest of the top-notch cast, which includes the likes of Spacek as her mother, Richard Jenkins as her father, Frances McDormand as her union rep pal (with a toned-down *Fargo* accent), Sean Bean as McDormand's injured husband, an atypically credible Woody Harrelson as the lawyer who takes on Theron's case, and Linda Emond as the mine's attack-dog defense lawyer.
The obvious case here is Jenkins as Theron's dad: for most of the film he's forced to be an unfeeling, heartless character, who stews in shame about his daughter and doesn't support her when she's suffering at the mine; conveniently, he does an about-face at the union meeting hall, bringing down the house with a great speech that castigates the greasy-haired apes in attendance ("I don't have a friend in this room!").
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.
This movie, based on the true story of female miners who sued their company to get equal rights in the workplace, suffers from a malady that affects most true-story movies, and that is that its characters are either REALLY GOOD or REALLY BAD for 80% of the movie, then some of the bad ones magically see the light in the final scenes, this redeeming themselves and helping the hero(ine) to win the day.Charlize Theron dresses down again, somewhat, as Josie Aimes, a single mom of two kids (by different fathers) who leaves her abusive husband to live with her parents.
Much of the movie deals with the (sometimes literal) crap that Josie and the other women had to go through, although she's the only one with any kind of gumption to do do anything about it.Theron's pretty good, although this isn't a "gettin' ugly" kind of role like that of Aileen Wuornos.
The real-life drama concerns Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron), a married mother-of-two who leaves her abusive husband for the snow-swept hinterlands of Northern Minnesota, there to take up residence with her taciturn iron-miner father (Richard Jenkins) and soft-spoken mother (Sissy Spacek).
But Josey is not the kind to just turn-tail and run; she goes to management, which demonstrates no desire to shake-up the profitable status-quo by addressing the gripes of a single ill-treated woman, and when this doesn't work she turns to a down-on-his-luck lawyer, Bill (Woody Harrelson), who agrees to bring her case to court as a class-action suit, provided she can convince more of her harassed female co-workers to take up the cause.Movies like North Country are inherently patronizing - not just because they depict lower-class people in a hollowly ennobling, often stereotypical way, but because they're made under the assumption that the gist will not get across to average people unless the factual story is dressed-up with melodramatic plot-movements, emotionally explicit acting and direct preaching.
Living with her parents and wanting to make things better for herself and her children, she takes a job at a thriving Minnesota iron mine where only a handful of women work under constant oppression and harassment from their lascivious male co-workers.
From the repetitiveness of scenes, from the hideous obviousness of the story's heading, the cheesy drama and the superabundance of clichés which signifies the new Hollywood benchmark of how many can fit in a feature film without actually snapping its cinematic waistband.Apart from the acting, which was uniformly outstanding, this movie is a joke from A to Z.
Niki Caro's follow up to her wonderful "Whale Rider" is full of good intentions, but it's a poundingly monotonous film.Charlize Theron plays Josey Aimes, poor mother of two who goes to work in a northern Minnesota mine where women are decidedly not wanted.
She and her female co-workers suffer all manner of mistreatment from the men, before Josey takes a stand and brings a class-action lawsuit against the mine, the first sexual harassment class-action suit in legal history.This film obviously follows in the footsteps of "Norma Rae" and "Erin Brockovich," though you can tell it makes an effort to stick to the gritty realism of the former rather than the slick phoniness of the latter.
And poor Frances McDormand is saddled with a thankless role, that of the token dying character who the script hurries into a wheelchair only so that she can make a maudlin surprise appearance at the end of the film.If you watch the documentary that's included on the DVD of "North Country," in which the real-life women who lived this story discuss their experiences, you will realize just how inauthentic a film this is.
If you know the story and the outcome, both of which are well known to most people; or even if you just watched the trailers and can imagine the outcome, then you have just about it all - the movie doesn't offer much more.Yes, as could be expected, the acting was good by the main characters, but there were no spectacular performances.
While the story is indeed one of grand intrigue, the direction and screenplay are extremely manipulative (there are so many Oscar-bait scenes in the courtroom and at union meetings), and so the viewer gets the most rewards out of watching the actors and actresses give it their all.Charlize Theron is absolutely fantastic in the lead role.
And so, this explains why "North Country" is an astonishing film, beautifully acted and I'm willing to bet will be nominated for perhaps 10 Oscars this winter.What can one say but that Charlize Theron is one amazing actor.
Charlize Theron plays coal mine worker Josey Aimes, who works in a mine in Montana where it becomes a place of hostility and sexual harassment.
North Country is the true story of women working in a mine in northern Minnesota who were harassed by their male co-workers and filed a sexual harassment lawsuit.
Here's yet another film that began promisingly only to fall into a typical Hollywood formula and end up as just another run-of-the-mill courtroom drama.And given the talent involved  director Niki Caro, actors Charlize Theron, Sissy Spacek, Frances McDormand, Sean Bean, Woody Harrelson, Richard Jenkins and Michelle Monaghan  you'd think any of these people would have realized the story was giving up any sense of realism for the sake of unbelievable "movie" moments.This is Theron's second unglamorous role  after her Oscar-winning "Monster" (2003)  and she's awfully good.
At least, when the story actually matters, when it brings out the plight of Josie and her co-workers.I've not read Clara Bingham and Laura Leedy's book, "Class Action: The Story of Lois Jensen and the Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law." But as the end credits indicate, Michael Seitzman's script seems to be only loosely based on the book, or to use Hollywood lingo, "inspired" by the book.I have no doubt some of the more despicable acts by the male miners  and they're disgusting  actually happened.
North Trash is More Like It. North Country (2005) * 1/2 (out of 4) A woman (Charlize Theron) goes to work at a mill where she becomes the target of physical abuse and sexual harassment so she files a lawsuit (the first) against the company.
But being good for cast reasons doesn't make a film good; "North Country" is a regular piece.Some decades ago, women started working in the mine industry, a common territory for men to support their families and a well paid job.
One of them, called Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron), was violently attacked, and she couldn't stay quiet; a fact that provoked a trial, the rejection of some and the admiration of others.Josey had escaped from her husband, who abused her, some time before; with her children Karen and Sammy (an impressive portrayal by the young Thomas Curtis), to go and first live with her parents Hank (Richard Jenkins) and Alice (the always great Sissy Spacek) and then with her friends Glory (a terrific and centered performance by Frances McDormand) and Kyle (another solid job by Sean Bean).
North Country is a good film about a working class woman trying to support her family in the face of sexual harassment from the miners at her job.
That's what makes it a great film.I consider North Country to be among the best movies I watched in 2005.
"North Country" mines "The Accused" and "Norma Rae" tradition of crusading women with tarnished reputations in small towns, in this case to remind us just how recently sexual harassment has become a legally recognized taboo.Director Niki Caro spends a lot of visual time establishing the beautiful and isolated snowy setting of the Iron Range of northern Minnesota (and yes we do hear Bob Dylan's "Girl of the North Country" among many other tracks from the area native, as well as a Cat Power cover as the sole female voice).
This immersion in a tough environment of real people in a complex web who know each other from multiple connections at school, work, local bars and hockey games keeps the film from strident didactism.Yes, Charlize Theron is beautiful, as well as a convincing actress, and the film does effectively, and sometimes quite movingly, show what it's like to be at the receiving end of male attention when you're the Barbie-playing, prettiest girl in town from high school on, and how that can hurt a woman's self-esteem and expectations.
While time and visuals are spent on touches like offensive graffiti, calendars, jokes, potty parity, groping and condescending managers (and it's disappointing that these facts of life and a past abuse flashback give the film an R rating rather than a PG-13 so that younger teens can't see the movie easily), the film scarily demonstrates how lack of solidarity in a tough job leads to physical danger as well, when PC-ness can otherwise be mocked.Frances McDormand, revisiting her "Fargo" accent, subsumes herself superbly into the best friend who deals in her own way with the job and personal issues.
In present times, that fact just is, with a recent study showing four in ten households with children under age eighteen make more money than their husbands across America.Try going back in time and telling that future fact to the arrogant, prideful male mineworkers in Niki Caro's North Country, who react with animal-like dominance upon meeting Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron).
After repeated slandering, vicious torment, and instances of sexual harassment, Josey finds Bill White (Woody Harrelson), a local attorney who can hopefully help in filing a class action lawsuit against the minefield and hopefully establish something resembling a women's rights division in the workplace.This kind of material lends itself to film.
It can be only partially forgiven for the way it toys with its focus onto something of lesser importance in the long run.NOTE: This review was read before my Business Law class my senior year of high school in 2014.Starring: Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Sean Bean, Richard Jenkins, Michelle Monaghan, Jeremy Renner, Woody Harrelson, and Sissy Spacek.
This is the story told in the award winning film, North Country, which graphically shows the horrors these women had to face at work on a daily basis.
Based on the book "Class action: The story of Lois Jensen and the landmark case that changed sexual harassment Law" by Clara Bingham e Laura Leedy Gansler , North Country (2005) tell us the story of the character Josey Aimes greatly performed by Charlize Theron.
The movie is inspired by the true story of some women working in a mine, having to suffer any kind of humiliation and sexual harassment by men, and having to struggle every day to defend their dignity, and above all their salary.
It is better than the first two but not to the level of the latter.Charlize Theron nails another Oscar worthy role as Josey, a working class mother struggling to just do her job at a coal mine dominated by men.
The story is dedicated to all women who fought against the sexual discrimination and harassment at work.Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron) is a strong-willed single mother who get job at the mines.