The Observer, October 21, 2005
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8
North Country may be Oscar fodder
Niki Caro's North Country is a fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States, Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines. Set somewhere in Minnesota, North Country highlights the lives of the few women working in a taconite coal mine that has recently undergone a policy change allowing equal employment opportunities for women. It illustrates the need for gender ethics reform, particularly as it applied to a growing women labor force in the 1980s and illuminates the failure of an American labor hierarchy where gender status was still used as a tool for sexist oppression. North Country marks the beginning of the end for sexism in the workplace and establishes women as equal competitors in the contemporary job market.
Charlize Theron plays the role of Josey Aimes, an independent single mother of two making ends meet with a thankless job at a coal refinery. Burdened with a history of sexual harrassment, she must choose to put up her male coworkers' countless sexual assaults or be faced with destitution. It is not until Aimes is introduced through a mutual friend to Bill White, a lawyer played by Woody Harrelson, that she pleads her case and is finally taken seriously. White, realizing that his only chance to win the case is through a class action suit, encourages Aimes to involve her female coworkers in the matter. Aimes takes a stand against sexual harrassment at the risk of losing her job and her means of survival.
The movie has emotion, scene involvement, character development, and stays true to its original intention without getting too deep into the issues. Unfortunately, it understates the grander issues at hand, particularly the sweeping changes in traditional gender roles occurring in late twentieth century society. If the movie were to truly cover all the issues associated with balancing the American job market to include women, it would probably need to tack on at least a few hours. Theron's on-screen performance blurs the real woman inside her character with all of the women her character represents, and may lead her to yet another Oscar nomination. Her performance may be almost too real at times, but nothing a true Theron-lover can't appreciate.
