|
By
DEBORAH NICOL
What could be more
frustrating than your mere existence causing your
own grief? When Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron
proving herself in yet another excellent role)
decides to work in an iron mine in northern
Minnesota, she discovers few reassuring answers to
this question as she is bullied by the male
majority. Director Niki Caro skillfully
choreographs the atmosphere for the first ever
class action sexual harassment suit, based on the
lives of some very tough women.
Caro first displayed her ability for putting women
in their rightful place with the culturally
important power struggle in "Whale Rider." In
"North Country" she escapes her home country and
enters the gritty mining towns of Minnesota in
order to attack the true-life hardships of women
who just wanted to work for a decent wage. What
they discover is that the wage comes with the cost
of dignity, decency and respect.
As soon as the women cross the testosterone
barrier, the men think nothing of cat calls and
crude jokes. However, the treatment quickly
escalates to physical harassment and threats, with
no one around to stop it. When Josey approaches
her boss to file a complaint, an evocative
calendar of a busty woman is prominently displayed
on his office wall – much like his words, this
provides little encouragement.
What is so aggravating is that harassment is not
merely given a blind eye, it is forcefully
encouraged. As Josey arrives at her parents home
beaten and bruised from her husband, her father's
("Six Feet Under's" Richard Jenkins in a harsh
portrayal) first reaction is that she must have
been cheating on him, and her mother's (Sissy
Spacek in a slim role) response is that this is
understandable behavior for an unemployed man. No
one questions when a woman is accused of being a
whore, despite the numerous witnesses that she was
actually a victim. The attitude of the town can be
summed up in the reaction of Josey's mother to the
ongoing Clarence Thomas hearings: "That poor man's
family."
Doubling the frustration within the film is the
demonstration of taking the easy route by
following mass madness. As everyone has learned
from history (or not, in the case of this town),
it is easier to blend in with the crowd than
gather the courage to fight the chaos. Even the
fellow female workers will not add their voices to
Josey's in fear of losing their jobs. They would
actually prefer to display their strength by
ignoring the persecution and persevering, rather
than considering the uphill struggle to a better
environment. The only alternative they can foresee
involves losing their jobs and no longer earning
enough to support their families.
The bleak and razed northern landscape is captured
in the lovely cinematography of Chris Menges ("The
Mission," "The Three Burials of Melquiades
Estrada"). Much like the bird's eye views of snowy
"Fargo" parking lots, Menges' aerial shots create
a labyrinth of dirty, snow-covered mines in which
the characters are only small ants working
tirelessly. As the scenes fly by sleepily, there
is little hint of the transgressions occurring
below, as the men lash out upon what they feel to
be a threat to their livelihoods. With few jobs to
go around, there is no excuse for filling a quota
with worthless women. In another slight homage to
"Fargo," tough-as-nails Frances McDormand (with a
much watered down accent) stars as the one woman
with which the men will consider trading
civilities, as she has carefully worked her way to
become a union rep but will not walk one step
further to damage increasingly shaky grounds. And
the men will surely not walk one step back to
steady those tremors.
It is hard to imagine a job where emotional costs
are worth less than physical risks, much less
presented to a woman who has already been plagued
with a lifetime of horrible and untrustworthy men.
The wonderful cast of this film portray a
hard-earned world where traditions – whether
thoughtful or not – are passed on to each
generation because they have been given no reason
to challenge those ideals. The fantastic activist
Participant Productions supports yet another good
film ("Syrianna," "Good Night, and Good Luck,"
"Murderball") that provides a face for the many
reasons to take on a cause.
Extras on this disc include a trailer, additional
scenes, and a featurette of the real women
involved in the case. What is most startling is
that this film (whose central character is
fictionalized, though the heart of the matter is
truthful) occurs in what appears to be a matter of
months in 1989, though the real battle lasted
excruciatingly from 1984 to 1998. |
