Review of North Country (2005) by Markb. — 24 Oct 2005

The same weekend I saw this fact-based (and yes, dramatically enhanced) account of a 1980s class action suit waged by the female employees of a Minnesota coal mine against the management for allowing an oppressively vicious and hostile atmosphere of sexual harassment, I also watched a DVD of Val Lewton's last horror film, the 1946 historical drama Bedlam.

As shocked and saddened as I was at that film's depiction of a society so heartless that its so-called noblemen frequently visited the famed mental institution to get entertainment and cheap laughs from the pathetic behavior and abuse of the patients, I felt even more so watching North Country because, while Bedlam took place in the seemingly less enlightened period of the 1700s, the cruelties of North Country were routinely accepted, sometimes even encouraged, during my lifetime.

It can certainly be easily argued that the reforms instituted in part by the women's case led in some cases to the pendulum swinging overly far in the opposite direction: a ridiculously p. c. atmosphere where in some workplaces you can't even discuss the plot of The 40-Year-Old Virgin during lunch hour in mixed company without getting written up.

But then it's crucial to remember that the occurrences that the mining women suffered daily amounted to endless psychological and emotional rape: the men expressing hostitity at the womens' presence and exercising total domination of their minds and souls.

Despite this movie's occasional tendency to make me feel truly embarrassed and ashamed of being part of my gender, it would be a shame if this harrowing, extremely well-made film were branded with the same male-bashing label that Thelma and Louise was inaccurately, unfairly and mindlessly assigned: most of the male behavior IS beyond despicable, but of the major male characters, one is a decent enough guy who does the right thing for not entirely the right reasons, one does a 180 degree turnaround that should equally change the audience's opinion of him, and one is so wise, loving and loyal under circumstances that would make many others much less so that I can see many female moviegoers falling in love with him.

The film's courtroom/flashback structure works well, the acting is admirably both passionate and restrained (with special congrats going to Charlize Theron, Sean Bean and Frances McDormand, who partially channels her Marge Gunderson accent from Fargo but then takes that beloved characterization down some truly surprising paths), and Niki Caro's direction is full of such wonderfully telling details as the calendar in Theron's supervisor's office that tells you that she doesn't stand a chance complaining to him, and, along with the much-discussed Anita Hill footage, a clip from a familiar TV series playing in the background of a crucial scene, a sitcom about a hard-edged male employer who's rough at times on his female employees but still treats them like his family.

I'm afraid that a certain portion of frequent moviegoers will dismiss North Country as preachy, Stanley Kramer-esque Oscar bait while continuing to wonder when Quentin Tarantino is going to release his four hour, NC-17 Kill Bill 1 & 2 amalgam to theaters, but as with George Clooney's McCarthy-era recreation Good Night and Good Luck, they'd be well-advised not to forget the lessons of the past as taught in both films.

Keep in mind that the workers' union in North Country, who should be standing with and behind Theron's fight for simple human justice, sides with the mine owners instead, partially for fear of being dissolved.

Consider life today in Wal-Mart America, where unions (when and where they exist at all) are all but clubbed completely into submission for fear of jobs being shipped to Mexico or India (which often ends up happening anyway).

..and remind yourself of the familiar fate of those who fail to learn from history.