North Country Movie

Directed by
Niki Caro

Writing credits
(WGA)
Michael Seitzman (screenplay)
Clara Bingham (book "Class Action: The Story of Lois Jensen and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law") and
Laura Leedy (book "Class Action: The Story of Lois Jensen and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law") (as Laura Leedy Gansler)

Release Date:
21 October 2005 (USA)

Genre:
Drama

Cast :
* Charlize Theron ..... Josey Aimes
* Frances McDormand ..... Glory Dodge
* Woody Harrelson ..... Bill White
* Sissy Spacek ..... Alice Aimes
* Richard Jenkins ..... Hank Aimes
* Jeremy Renner ..... Bobby Sharp
* Sean Bean ..... Kyle Dodge
* Thomas Curtis ..... Sammy Aimes
* Michelle Monaghan..... Sherry
* Rusty Schwimmer ..... Big Betty
* Jillian Armenante ..... Peg
* Linda Emond ..... Leslie Conlin
* John Aylward ..... Judge Halsted
* Amber Heard ..... Young Josey Aimes

Original Sound Track :
1. North Country - Gustavo Santaolalla
2. Girl of the North Country - Leo Kottke
3. Tell Ol' Bill - Bob Dylan
4. Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon
5. Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
6. If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body (Would You Hold It Against Me) - The Bellamy Brothers
7. Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan
8. A Saturday in My Classrom - Gustavo Santaolalla
9. Sweetheart Like You - Bob Dylan
10. Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me - Mac Davis
11. Do Right to Me Baby (Do Unto Others) - Bob Dylan
12. Standing Up - Gustavo Santaolalla
13. Paths of Victory - Cat Power

Plot / Synopsis :
When Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron) returns to her hometown in Northern Minnesota in 1989, after leaving her abusive husband, 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 (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.

Pictures :