North Country

Review By: Steve Moreau
SteveMoreau@TheCinemaSource.com

Growing up in a small city like Chicopee, MA, there are certain small town ideals that are thought to exist within the confines of the city limits. Whether it’s town traditions, festivals, or unspoken laws, people in the area are very hip to the happenings of their home. So when Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron once again getting gritty for a down-on-her-luck Oscar worthy role) goes after the traditionally male job of working in the coal mines of Northern Minnesota in North Country, it definitely raised some local eyebrows. Being a single parent, she realized that there were some hardships and struggles she would grudgingly have to endure in order to provide for her family, regardless of local sentiment or bias. What resulted was the nation's first sexual harassment class action suit against a major company, and a taste of what it’s like for a woman to venture into uncharted male territory.

Josey decides to leave her abusive husband and go back home to live with her parents; to help reestablish herself and get back on her feet again. With two kids in tow, she is ready to take any job that would put a piece of meat on the table and a buck in her pocket. Enter Glory (Academy Award winner Frances McDormand in a brassy and showy tough as nails role) who is one of the few female miners in town who puts the idea in Josey's head to make 6 times what she is making washing hair by driving trucks in the local mines. Granted Josey's old fashioned father works at the factory as well, she takes the job with stars in her eyes and hope in her heart for a new start. What she doesn't realize is this is an industry long dominated by men, in a place unaccustomed to change.

It’s immediately clear that she’s a woman in a man's world. She is hissed at, grabbed by, made fun of, hit on, and hit by the men who work in the factory. They might be doing this because she’s a pretty girl doing a gritty job, or just because they want to see women in the kitchen making dinner for them when they get home. Bobby Sharpe (Jeremy Renner who just oozes creepiness) is especially abusive because he went to school with Josie back in the day and has some sort of deep seeded resentment towards her. He shows it by regularly "putting her in her place" at the factory. In fact, all of the women get the same treatment as Josie, but they don't pout or complain. They just put up with it because they need their jobs to survive. Just like Josie.

Now you might be thinking, why doesn't she just quit? The answer is because she can't provide for her family without a job. It's a mix of financial gain and a sense of pride. Her father warned her about the hardships she would be subjected to at ...