Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Steve Pulaski My mother is the breadwinner of my household. Not long ago, this fact would've been unforeseeable but if it were to be the truth, the dominant male of said household would likely be viewed as feeble and a disgrace to his sex. In present times, that fact just is, with a recent study showing four in ten households with children under age eighteen make more money than their husbands across America.Try going back in time and telling that future fact to the arrogant, prideful male mineworkers in Niki Caro's North Country, who react with animal-like dominance upon meeting Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron). Josie is a single mother with two kids from two different men who must suffer through the hellish work environment and employee treatment when she gets a job working in the mining-field. This is during the time that employment law in America has been amended to now recognize women able to perform manual labor (or, in that time, a "man's job").The first half of the film documents Josey's courageous attempt to assimilate herself in with these male mineworkers, along with the few females that also took the courageous challenge as well. Josey is treated disrespectfully by most all the men, but none quite like the treatment she receives by Bobby Sharp (Jeremy Renner), an old high school sweetheart. After repeated slandering, vicious torment, and instances of sexual harassment, Josey finds Bill White (Woody Harrelson), a local attorney who can hopefully help in filing a class action lawsuit against the minefield and hopefully establish something resembling a women's rights division in the workplace.This kind of material lends itself to film. It's material we constantly hear about, and the kind that fills us with vigor and energy seeing it unfold. Thankfully, we have the likes of Theron, Renner, and Harrelson to constantly keep the film and its setups intriguing, while we have many scenes adequately showing the brutal conditions of the minefield, not just because of the work involved but because of its employees. However, North Country is heavily dramatized, meaning it has been made more interesting for the screen, so not only do we get to see Josey's legal battle unfold we also watch her relationship with her parents along with her son, who thinks nothing significant of her. This kind of drama overshadows what the film is really about - women's rights in the workplace. The film rightfully spends half of its time in the minefield, but the other half should've been loaned to the efforts of documenting a fierce, incorruptible legal battle the real Josey Aimes (named Laura Leedy Gansler) fought for fifteen long years.What we get instead of a devilishly interested legal battle is one that feels tacked on by writer Michael Seitzman as if it was a footnote. We get unrealistic behavior in the courtroom by Harrelson and Renner, whose statements seemed to be predicated off of the power buzzwords and theatrics can possess during the climax of a film. I was reminded of the nudging artificiality in the film A Few Good Men where, by the end, the actors are clearly putting on a show for us and the cameras, the lights, and the set designers have made the room so congested that there is hardly any room for behavior that doesn't seem to be for the cameras to take place.North Country's goal, above any other, seems to be providing us with entertainment, not exactly knowledge. Its dependence on melodrama is equal parts interesting as it is exhausting. It hits certain heights, one scene in particular involving Josey's teenage son, who is in the surly and ungrateful phase of shortchanging his mother's efforts and writing her off as the town slut. He is then given a valuable lesson by one of his mother's friends about how Josey never gave up on him, despite circumstances and complications where it would've been perfectly acceptable to do such a thing. This scene is extremely important because it reminds people, specifically kids, the value of their parents and the importance of appreciating them and not taking them for granted.However, it seems for every strong scene that resonates without being too didactic, there's one with questionable circumstances or one that emphasizes way too heavily on theatrics and emotion manipulation, effectively muddying a strong point of the project to follow. Courtroom dramas are difficult to do well, but North Country would've benefited from more scenes emphasizing Josey's struggle to rightfully reform a section of employment law rather than mend her family struggles, many of which seem nothing more than convenient instances of dissent carried beyond the lines of immaturity (specifically the way her father and son come to treat her).North Country is worth the price of admission for its great band of character actors, all of whom could be considered at the top of their game, and director Niki Caro's sensitive depiction of a tough topic. It can be only partially forgiven for the way it toys with its focus onto something of lesser importance in the long run.NOTE: This review was read before my Business Law class my senior year of high school in 2014.Starring: Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Sean Bean, Richard Jenkins, Michelle Monaghan, Jeremy Renner, Woody Harrelson, and Sissy Spacek. Directed by: Niki Caro.

katinka1969 Overall I found that this film was a bit too Hollywood for my liking, especially the about-turn in the father's regard for his daughter. Plus Charlize Theron, though a terrific actress, looked way too beautiful, luminous, clear-skinned etc. to convincingly play an overwrought mother of two who'd been regularly beaten by her ex-husband.Having said this, I think the reviewers who slam it as being out of date, irrelevant etc. are missing an important point. Films about subjects such as this are in my view essential to remind us of just how far we've come in terms of equality in the workplace and in life generally. The 80s is still a relatively recent decade, which makes it even more horrifying that this type of abuse was at best ignored, at worst encouraged. Add to that the fact that all of the episodes in this film happened in real life, and there were apparently scores of others that could not be included, given the constraints of a two hour film. It is very easy to forget that many of the rights and privileges we enjoy today were hard-won, often by horribly oppressed people who had little more than sheer determination driving them to take on the seemingly untouchable powers-that-be.

Raul Faust Well, I first saw this movie back in 2006. Recently I realized I didn't remember a thing about it, maybe because I was too young when saw it, so I just saw it again.North Country is a good movie that involves many of the issues we have all around the world. Prejudice, sexism, intolerance, among others. Here it is easy to understand the maxim "if you want to test a man's character, give him power". It's quite easy to realize that too much power concentrated in one/few people is going to create problems and injustice.I found interesting the scene that Kyle talks to Sammy and explains him how wrong it is for him to hate his mother. Very good conversation over there. That's the famous "reverse psychology". Great movie overall.

tanyapapier This is a remarkable film.After Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron) decides to take her kids and leave her abusive husband behind, she comes to stay with her parent's for a while in Minnesota. While working as a beautician, she meets up with an old friend, Glory (Frances McDormand) who lets her know about a well-paying job opportunity in the Pearson Taconite Mine. But there is a catch, Glory warns: "you gotta get your gator skin on in order to make it." From the get-go, the boss gives the new female recruits a very unwelcoming time and their male co-workers have a strong belief that women shouldn't be there. From offensive and lewd graffiti to the sexual harassment, the women take all they can get and keep quiet for one reason: if they talk, it'll only get worse. But one did... and it led to the first class action sexual harassment lawsuit in history.I do believe that, while the plot line if amazing, the actors portrayals of each their roles was flawlessly magnificent. The characters are written in the most believable fashion, and the actors perfectly believable performances. This is a character-driven film... and as such, it delevers a powerhouse blow to the mind.This is a very emotionally charged film. (Think "Million Dollar Baby.") The way the men abuse of the women and how, even Josey's father, doesn't defend her. The direction is especially well-done: leaving, at times, the events that occurred to your emagination, but showing you the result (for example, you see Josey arguing with her husband, next scene she's on the floor, bleeding... You don't know what he did, but you know that he did something.) This is a wonderful fil, well acted, well directed and well written. This is most definitely one of those movies that you don't want to miss.