Review of North Country (2005) by Blake P — 08 Mar 2012

Josey Aimes (Theron) is a poverty-stricken mother who has finally moved out of her abusive husband's house. She takes her young daughter and son (Curtis) with her and moves in with her parents (Spacek, Jenkins), and is hired as a female mine worker.

Instantly, Josey takes a dislike to the job; there's only a handful of female co-workers, all of which are subjected to horrible sexual harassment. Josey wants to do something about it and takes a stand, filing a lawsuit against the men.

But because the other women need those jobs and don't want the harassment to worsen, they don't stand by Josey's side, leading her to wonder if it's such a good idea after all. "North Country" is one of those films where you know that if it had not had such an excellent cast acting their hearts out it would just be another "Lifetime"-esque movie.

This is a good film, but after watching it the only thing you'll be remembering is all of the acting, not the story-line whatsoever. The problem is, is that even though the film is based on a true story, so much of the events seem predictable, ruining what could be such a brutal, dark and honest film.

Thankfully, in the end is saved by the performances-- all of which are superb (especially from Theron and McDormand) and believable. Theron is throughly excellent and I felt very sympathetic towards her character, and McDormand is strong and confident and you can identify a lot with her character.

But all in all, these are the only strong points in the movie. When I ended "North Country", it just felt like such an empty experience. If you want to watch this, expect good acting-- that's all.