NORTH COUNTRY

4 Stars – Profound

There are so many freedoms we enjoy each day, and in so doing we are oblivious to the price that was paid to achieve them.  Sometimes those freedoms have been won in our lifetime, but the change has been so profound that we can easily forget how different the world used to be.

“North Country” is a fictionalized account of the landmark 1984 sexual harassment case at the Eveleth Mines in Minnesota.  Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron) is a battered wife with two children who escapes from her abusive husband and lands at the home of her parents, Alice (Sissy Spacek) and Hank (Richard Jenkins) Aimes who still live in the small mining town in which she grew up.  Hank is a coal miner at the Eveleth Mines, a business that is run by testosterone and vulgar camaraderie.

Josey, who desperately wants to keep her family whole, learns from her lifelong friend Glory (Frances McDormand) that the mine has hired a few women as miners as part of a legal mandate.  Glory is a tough-skinned miner and Union Steward, who, in a “man’s world,”  can hold her own with the best of them.  Against her father’s will, Josie enters the mine which becomes a living hell.

While any woman today could tell her own story of how sexual discrimination still exists, the world into which Josie entered  was so abusive that one could only imagine it happening in a prison.  For the women of this Minnesota mine, every day became an emotional and physical lockdown:  feces smeared on the women’s lockers, direct rape attempts on the job, and continual jeers from the male miners made daily life a death sentence.

When profound change has occurred in America, it often is preceded by the worst kinds of abuse that rise to the level of national shame.  But public outrage is rarely enough.  Someone, or some group, becomes the sacrificial lamb before confession and justice are served.

The effects of “Jim Crow” laws in the US persisted for 100 years before the civil rights struggles of the 1950’s and 60’s.  The rise to public outrage of the racial abuses in the south ultimately took the life of Martin Luther King and countless other martyrs before Congress passed landmark pieces of legislation banning discrimination in America.  It is within the life experience of many still living today to remember segregated lunch counters as well as iconic images of African Americans as Amos and Andy.

The role of women in the workplace was a world of difference only 30 years ago.  The TV images of Lucile Ball as the ditzy housewife who always deferred to her husband’s adept ability to be the “bread winner” have given way to CSI Miami images of woman prosecutors profoundly solving mystery cases week after week.

In each of these cases though, we often forget that this change didn’t occur over lifetimes. Nor did it occur without sacrifice.  Although 25 years is a quarter of a century, it is a small blip in time for tectonic social movement to occur.  Sometimes that change can occur from a single act of sacrifice such as Josey Aimes.  Other times it requires hundreds to break down the Berlin Wall. 

What is most important is that we never take for granted the sacrifice that was made.  Unless we teach each new generation about the freedoms we have gained, we are always in danger of caving into our most sinful nature of greed, avarice, fear, and pride.

In Josey’s case, the price she paid throughout her life to live in a world of abusive men was high.  What gives us hope is how she coped with, then challenged, and then transformed the world in which she lived.  This was both a profound triumph for the rights of working women everywhere, but also a triumph in overcoming the emotional restraints of her family.  The gripping and realistically touching sequences between Josey and her father and her son are worth the price of admission.

“North Country” is one of those films that should be repeatedly shown in High Schools everywhere.  It is as important a lesson in American history as any war ever fought.  

 

Discussion:                                   

1.       The abusive use of power, whether by gender, race, religion or class, has been destructive throughout human history.  How have you experienced such abuse in your own life?  Have you ever perpetrated such abuse on others?

 

2.       What Josey had to face in order to bring about change, is the sacrifice such social and religious change always seems to require.  Is there any place in our culture today where you think such sacrifice is needed?  Are you willing to sacrifice to bring about this change?

 

3.       The social support for the equality of women is the larger cultural and legal story behind this film.  Why do you believe women today are increasingly being treated with respect and protection?  What is it in our American way of life that is accomplishing this change?

 

4.       When Josey’s father sees his coworker’s disrespect of his daughter it reveals the evil of their business.  Why do you think we become permissive or even blind to evil in our lives until we or our family becomes a victim of such sin?

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Cinema In Focus is a social and spiritual movie commentary.  Hal Conklin is former mayor of Santa Barbara and Denny Wayman is pastor of the Free Methodist Church. For more reviews: http://www.cinemainfocus.com.