Movie: North Country

This is a richly told story based on the real experiences of women at a Minnesota taconite plant in the 1980's, where they underwent horrific treatment by male workers resentful of their fight for jobs in a place where women 'shouldn't' be. Since essentially it's a character story told against a grim industrial backdrop, the casting to carry it off is crucial, and what makes this a blockbuster is the gathering of Charlize Theron as Josey, with Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins, Sissy Spacek, Sean Bean, and Woody Harrelson - yes, that's all in one movie.

The most powerful acting comes in its non-speaking moments. Dozens on dozens of them - where Josey has to pull up all of her bravery to keep going in the face of unspeakable intimidation and the rejection of friends and family. Where women in the mine confront the constant horrible traps laid for them but contain their reactions to keep the paycheck coming. Where the good men around them feel outrage, then quietly put away their courage and say nothing to disturb status quo. Where a husband still has eyes only for the woman who once was his vibrant wife, now a shell melting away from Lou Gehrig's disease. Where that same woman - the first woman to breach that environment years before - struggles out of a union meeting painfully and men behind her feel only appreciation that at least there's one bitch out of their way with no effort from them.

The thing that disappointed me about this movie was while it tells so masterfully the horrors these women went through, it then puts the "sexual harassment" label on it. This goes beyond creating a hostile work environment - it was a protracted series of mob attacks carried out in conspiracy and approval of the mine's management. The depths to which these women were openly degraded, and the capacities for the gang mentality to justify it, make this a story to challenge the mind long after the credits roll. Best of all, the real women behind these events give it their approval.