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North Country (Widescreen Edition)


by Doug Claybourne, Helen Buck Bartlett, Jeff Skoll, Nana Greenwald, Clara Bingham, Laura Leedy, Michael Seitzman
Directed by Niki Caro
Starring Charlize Theron, Jeremy Renner, Frances McDormand, Elle Peterson, Thomas Curtis
Warner Home Video

List Price: $14.98
Price: $9.99
You Save: $4.99 (33%)
Available: Usually ships in 24 hours
Sales Rank: 9944
Release Date: February 21, 2006
Rated:  
Running Time: 126 minutes
Theatrical Release: October 21, 2005
Studio: Warner Home Video


FORMATS

  • AC-3
  • Closed-captioned
  • Color
  • Dolby
  • Dubbed
  • DVD-Video
  • Subtitled
  • Widescreen
  • NTSC


EDITORIAL REVIEWS

Description
When Josey Aimes (Academy Award winner CHARLIZE THERON) returns to her hometown in Northern Minnesota after a failed marriage, she needs a good job. A single mother with two children to support, she turns to the predominant source of employment in the region - the iron mines. The mines provide a livelihood that has sustained a community for generations. The work is hard but the pay is good and friendships that form on the job extend into everyday life, bonding families and neighborhoods with a common thread.

DVD Features:
Deleted Scenes
Documentaries


Amazon.com
A sterling cast and vivid direction give North Country an emotional heft to match its political convictions. Charlize Theron (Monster) plays Josey Aimes, who goes to work at a Minnesota steel mine after splitting with her violent husband.

Frances McDormand and Charlize
Theron in North Country.
But the job proves to be almost as harrowing as her marriage; the male miners, resentful of women taking jobs, verbally abuse and play humiliating pranks on the female miners. After being physically assaulted by a coworker, Josey tries to fight against the harassment, but none of the other women will join her case for fear that things will only get worse. North Country, directed by Niki Caro (Whale Rider), makes the women's experience palpable for the audience without overdoing it. But the lawsuit is only part of the movie; the gut impact of North Country comes from the devastating effect the lawsuit has on Josey's family, friends, and coworkers--thanks to an incredible ensemble cast that includes Sissy Spacek (In the Bedroom), Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings), Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under), Woody Harrelson (The People vs. Larry Flynt), and the always powerful Frances McDormand (Fargo, Mississippi Burning). The courtroom histrionics don't always ring true, but the family conflict is riveting and deeply moving. Based on the book Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law. --Bret Fetzer


CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 92 reviews)

One of those instances where a heavy hand would have been welcome...  
It's true that `North Country' sports a weighty message; but it is also true, very true, that for the most part that heavy message manages to feel light. A lot of directors struggle with finding a balance between sentiment and saccharine; between weighty importance and muddy self-importance. Some directors have made a career out of defining this genre or brand of drama (take Ron Howard and Penny Marshall for instance) and yet still others have attempted and failed at the very same feat. In this regard, director Niki Caro succeeds; to an extent.

`North Country' never feels too thick.

The film tells the true story (or at least the parts they want to tell) of a young woman pushed the brink of her tolerance who is eventually forced to take action against those persecuting her. Josey Aimes has had a bad life. She got pregnant while still in high school, has pretty much been disowned by her father and has just left her abusive husband, toting her two young children back to mom and dads house. In an attempt to get her life in order she takes a job up at the mine, doing man's work, and quickly finds that the abuse she faces at the workplace is just as severe and almost more degrading than anything she faced with her ex-husband. As she struggles through each and every day of work she comes home to a family that shuns her, a son that hates her, a father that blames her for everything and a town that is growing tired of her complaints. She has no where to turn, but when things get too extreme on the workfront she decides to take the matter to the courts.

The true story that inspired this film is truly groundbreaking for it managed to pave the way for better work environments for women and men alike. This is a very important story to tell, and for the most part the story is told well.

My only issue with `North Country' is that at times it felt overly simple. It was just this feeling I got while watching the majority of the film; this feeling that there had to be more to this story. It kind of felt a little like a television movie, like a lifetime movie even. It was weighty yet felt airy in many scenes and that feeling tended to drag on for some time. The film picked up major pace as the inevitable conclusion came peering around the corner, and the courtroom scenes and flashbacks that fill in a few gaps are startling and heartbreaking, but they feel almost like too little too late. The film tries to serve up sentiment with the side story of Glory, Josey's friend, and her illness but it feels like just that, a side story.

The acting is generally very good and at times even great. A lot of people claim that Charlize Theron's Oscar nomination was ridiculous and undeserved, but I actually found her performance to be utterly unforgettable. My only wish is that she had held on to her accent throughout the entire film. There are some scenes (particularly with McDormand, who we know has perfected the accent from `Fargo') where her accent is spot on perfection, and if she had held it in every scene then her performance may even rival her Oscar winning `Monster' perf. The rest of the acting is good; Richard Jenkins, Sean Bean and Woody Harrelson serving up the best performances in the bunch. Jeremy Renner is convincing as the sleaze-ball town slacker and Sissy Spacek is touching as Josey's concerned mother. I have to say that I love Frances McDormand, but her performance is nothing special. She has an illness and the Academy obviously went crazy for that, but her nomination seemed kind of lazy to me, especially when you consider all of the actresses who delivered brilliant performances that same year (Maria Bello, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Scarlett Johansson). She is effective, but not award worthy.

In the end I have to say that `North Country' is a good film, but it could have been better. It is an important film, but the message would feel even more resonant if the delivery had been a little better. Definitely see this movie, but don't expect a film that is as groundbreaking as the real life story that inspired it.
September 11, 2008

North Counrty  
Oscar winner Chalize Theron stars in 'North Country'. -All she wanted to do was work and be able to earn a living at her job -- nothing doing!!! Wonderful movie in the way 'Silkwood' was a wonderful movie... Doing the Best they can: This type of GRIT and earned success doesn't come around everyday: Senator Hillary Clinton has it: In the 2008 Presidential Primary race, Hillary Clinton not only earned more votes than any of her rivals, she earned more votes than any other Presidential Primary candidate in the history of America (and earned 311 electoral votes, to her Party's presumptive nominee who earned 227 - 270 needed to win in November - On August 28,2008, the Party chooses it's nominee for President)
August 20, 2008

North Country  
I searched high and low at various outlet stores for this movie (I had borrowed it from a friend and while on a trip lost the DVD) and was not having any luck. A friend suggested I try AMAZON.com and I could not believe my luck, not only did I find it, but at a great price too. I had the DVD within a week of ordering. I will definitely turn to AMAZON for my future purchases.
July 26, 2008

IT'S ONLT ME BUT:  
GOOD STORY ABOUT A SINGLE MOM TRYING TO IMPROVE HER LIFE WORKING A A COAL MINE TO EARN MORE MONEY. SHOWS THE PREJUDICE SHOWN BY THE MEN WHO DON'T WANT WOMEN TO WORK THERE. A SECONDARY ISSUE IS THE STORY ABOUT THE RAPE THAT RESULTED IN HER SON, THAT SHE HAS NEVER TALKED ABOUT. IT ALL COMES OUT IN THE END. JM
June 01, 2008

Women's Rights  
It has been a few years since I last watched North Country! I am actually from Minnesota, so it is kinda cool for once in a good time to see a Minnesota movie, but also to see some history of Minnesota in itself.

Charlize Theron does a great performance of not only acting in this film, but to portray the true story of what some of these women went through in the steel mining industry!

This movie is inspiring because not only does this movie get the message to the audience that sexual abuse and harassment does happen within the work place and outside of the work place behind closed doors, but it gets across the positive message that any woman is of equal importance as a man in the work field and off the work field and that women these days stand up and speak out on behalf of other women and for themselves for women's rights!! Women aren't just an object in American society and Charlize Theron will let you know about it!

Overall, great movie in the non-fictional standpoint!
April 28, 2008


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