North Country (2005)
Runtime: 2 hrs 6 mins
Theatrical Release: Oct 21, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $18,324,242
Synopsis: 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... 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. It's an industry long dominated by men, in a place unaccustomed to change. Encouraged by her old friend Glory (Academy Award winner FRANCES McDORMAND), one of the few female miners in town, Josey joins the ranks of those laboring to blast ore from rock in the gaping quarries. She is prepared for the back-breaking and often dangerous work, but coping with the harassment she and the other female miners encounter from their male coworkers proves far more challenging. Times are tough. The last thing the miners want is women competing for scarce jobs - women who, in their estimation, have no business driving trucks and hauling rock anyway. If these newcomers want to work the mines they'll have to do it on the terms set by the veteran workforce and it won't be easy. Take it or leave it. When Josey speaks out against the treatment she and her fellow workers face she is met with resistance - not only from those in power but from a community that doesn't want to hear the truth, her disapproving parents and many of her own colleagues who fear she is only making things worse. In time, even her friendship with Glory will be tested, her already difficult connection with her father, a lifelong miner, will be pushed to its limit and elements of her personal life exposed to scrutiny. The fallout from Josey's battle to make a better future for herself and her children will affect every aspect of her life, including her relationship with her young daughter and her sensitive teenage son, who must first cope with the embarrassment of his mother's sudden notoriety and then face harsh details of her past she was hoping he would never have to know. Through these struggles Josey will find the courage to stand up for what she believes in - even if that means standing alone. Inspired by a true story, North Country follows Josey's journey on a road that will take her farther than she ever imagined, ultimately inspiring countless others, and leading to the nation's first-ever class action lawsuit for sexual harassment. --© Warner Bros. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Thomas Curtis, Sean Bean
Screenwriter: Michael Seitzman
Producer: Helen Buck Bartlett, Doug Claybourne, Nana Greenwald, Nick Wechsler
Composer: Gustavo Santaolaya
Producer: Valerie Flueger
DVD Info
Release:
Feb 21, 2006
DVD Features:
- Keep Case
- Widescreen - 2.40
Audio:
- Dolby Surround 5.1 - English
- Dolby Surround 5.1 - French
- Subtitles - English - Optional
- Subtitles - French - Optional
- Subtitles - Spanish - Optional
Additional Release Material:
- Deleted Scenes
- Documentary - "Stories from the North Country"
- Trailer - Theatrical Trailer
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
While the performances are flawless, Michael Seitzman's screenplay is embarrassingly sophomoric, so much so that the film's denouement completely obliterates its feminist message.
Works as both deep focus on a critical historical moment, and a more intimate and sorrowful tale about growing up female in America.
Though tough and heavy-handed at times, North Country is engaging -- not one of those films about an important subject matter that you feel you should watch.
...there's little doubt that the movie would not come off even remotely as well as it ultimately does were it not for the effectiveness of the cast.
Os realizadores de Terra Fria se revelam bem mais repugnantes e perigosos do que os mineiros retratados em seu filme supostamente liberal.
The narrative may not be exact in its details..., but it is undoubtedly true to the spirit of the real events.
Enjoyable drama that's impressively shot and features a strong cast but is ultimately hampered by a fatal weakness for courtroom clichés.
The similarities to Erin Brockovich are obvious, yet North Country plays like a glossy soap opera, despite strong performances from a superb cast.
... an overblown, overlong soap opera about a woman who never learns how to truly stand up for herself.
With North Country, Theron and Caro strongly suggest that Monster and Whale Rider weren't one-offs.
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