North Country Photo

North Country

Starring: Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Sissy Spacek, Woody Harrelson, Sean Bean

Directed by: Niki Caro

RS: 2of 4 Stars

2005 Warner Bros. Pictures Biopic

There's a role -- think Sally Field in Norma Rae or Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich -- that is the equivalent of unzipping Oscar's pants and going for it. Academy voters salivate for female crusaders, and Charlize Theron grabs herself a doozy as Josey Aimes in North Country. Josey is a single mother of two who dumps her abusive husband and heads back home to Minnesota to live with her folks (Sissy Spacek and Richard Jenkins, both admirable), work in a grimy iron mine and try to pretend that it isn't demeaning to have men grab her ass. When Josey can no longer pretend, she hires a former New York lawyer (Woody Harrelson) and sues the bastards. Her pals, even the plucky Glory (Frances McDormand), are too afraid to join her. Michael Seitzman's script is "inspired by" a true story, which means any similarities between Josey and Lois Jenson, the real woman who made Eveleth Mines pay for their sins in a landmark 1988 class-action suit, are purely coincidental. Instead, we get a TV-movie fantasy of female empowerment glazed with soap-opera theatrics. The actors, director Niki Caro (Whale Rider) and the great cinematographer Chris Menges all labor to make things look authentic. But a crock is a crock, despite the ferocity and feeling Theron brings to the role. She didn't win an Oscar for getting fat and ugly to play serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster -- she won for digging deep into a scarred soul. Though the dirt and grime in North Country are artfully applied, it's purely cosmetic and skin-deep.