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Determined to take control of her life, single mom Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron) leaves her abusive boyfriend and moves back to the Minnesota mining town where she grew up. With opportunities scarce, she takes a job in the mines, only to find the workplace dangerous, dirty, and demeaning. Inspired by the first real-life class-action suit brought for sexual harassment, North Country provides Theron yet another meaty role that, like her Oscar-winning turn in Monster, sullies her glamour-puss persona. She didn't gain 30 pounds to play Josey, but she's no cover girl, either. Theron's ability to immerse herself in the role of a working-class single mother makes this film utterly convincing. New Zealand-born Whale Rider director Niki Caro replicates an oppressive workplace in which the few women workers are daily subjected to profanity, ridicule, and worse. Josey, being somewhat more attractive than the others, gets singled out for more blatant pestering and fights back the only way she knows how. You can't help but sympathize with her when she hires local lawyer Bill White (Woody Harrelson) to level harassment charges at her persecutors in court. Even her own father (Richard Jenkins), a mineworker himself, doesn't seem very sympathetic to her plight, and union rep Glory (Frances McDormand) is initially reluctant to get involved. Granted, Caro stacks the deck to make most of the male mineworkers particularly repugnant and the women all terrified victims, rendering North Country an unyielding catalyst for outrage. Caro's skill and the sterling performances of a stellar cast make it a particularly compelling two hours of cinema. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

A fictionalized account of one of America's most groundbreaking sexual harassment lawsuits comes to the screen in this hard-hitting drama. In the late '80s, Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron) fled her abusive husband, and needed to find a way to support her two children. Aimes returned to her hometown in Minnesota and followed the lead of her old friend Glory (Frances McDormand), who had bucked tradition and found a job in the iron mines that had long provided employment for much of the community. Aimes found honest labor and a living wage working the mines, but she also discovered she was working with men who were uncomfortable working with women (whose right to work in the mines had been mandated by law almost 15 years prior), and didn't care to show them much respect. However, as Aimes found herself the growing target of sexist jokes and abhorrent behavior, she found that many of her female co-workers were reluctant to stand beside her, afraid of losing a good-paying job at a time when they were increasingly hard to find. But as a personal crisis became a public war of words, Aimes became the center of a nationwide controversy when she attempted to file a class action sexual harassment suit against the mine owners, which put her and her family in a position of scrutiny beyond her worst expectations. North Country also stars Sean Bean, Sissy Spacek, and Woody Harrelson. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 012569593404
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Letterbox
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español
• Time: 2:06:00
• Sales Rank: 14,061

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