North Country

what led into the first sexual harassment class action lawsuit
I really hate the tagline of North Country. "All she wanted to do was make a living. Instead she made history." It's terrible and doesn't at all capture what North Country is. Well, I suppose on one hand it does because that ultimately is the storyline of the movie but it's a tagline that makes me want to run away rather than buy a ticket. But enough about that.

North Country is based on actual events at the Eveleth Mines in Minnesota's Iron Range. Women were first allowed into the mines in the late 1970's and the stories that North Country deals with occurred all throughout the 80's and into the first class action sexual harassment lawsuit in the early 1990's. Director Niki Caro (Whale Rider) spoke with some of the women miners and had one, Lynn Sterle as an advisor for the film.

Charlize Theron plays Josey Aimes, a fictionalized character who comes to work at the Pearson Taconite mine where her father works and where her friend Glory (Frances McDormand) works...

Flannel Shirts Instead of Skirts
NORTH COUNTRY is as chilling a story as the climate of northern Minnesota. We are told this movie is based on a true story--a landmark sexual harassment case that revolutionized corporate policy pertaining to gender equality nationwide. Disgusted and put out with the relentless, abusive, even violent treatment by her male coworkers (and superiors) in the male-dominated ore mining industry, single mom Josey Aimes (played wonderfully by Charlize Theron) dares to rock the boat by filing a lawsuit against her employer. It's a story that's been told a million times before--of one individual fighting fearlessly, even futilely, against the insurmountable odds of the corrupt status quo--yet NORTH COUNTRY succeeds admirably by virtue of its stellar cast and compelling plot.

Returning to her hometown after her marriage goes on the fritz, Josey dares to seek employment at the local strip mine, where the work is brutal, but the working conditions even more so. Her best friend,...

Stand up for your right to see a good movie
In the tradition of 'Norma Rae', 'Silkwood', and 'Erin Brockovich' comes a movie which is entertaining, action-packed, and muckraking all in one. Michael Seitzman tells the real-life story of Lois Jenson (Charlize Theron). Jenson encouraged her female co-workers to collectively protest their workplace harassment.

The newly divorced single mother had returned to her Minnesota hometown looking for a way to support her family (Sammy and Karen). Upon the recommendation of an old friend Glory (Frances McDormand) she becomes a miner. The hardest challenges at the new job did not come from the physical labor however. Instead they were from some of the male miners because those individuals became threatened by their new colleagues.

Incidentally, these men are led by Bobby Sharp (played by Jeremy Renner) who used to date Josey in high school.

After being sexually harassed on the job, Josey Aimes (a composite sketch of Lois Jenson) files a lawsuit against the...

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