Digging for Equality: 'North Country'
Giovanni Rosendo, associate editor

Imagine going to work everyday praying that you won’t get sexually harassed.

“North Country” is a brilliant movie directed by Niki Caro.  This movie is destined to attract awards like moths to a fire.

The film opens with facts about women and when they began to work in mines.

Josey Aimes (played by Academy Award wining actress Charlize Theron) is an abused wife and mother of two kids. 

As the film opens, Josey becomes tired of being battered, packs her and the children’s things and goes to live with her parents (played by Sissy Spacek and Richard Jenkins) in Minnesota.

While settling in, Josey receives many disgusted stares in her direction, due to past discrepancies.  She is seen as a screw up and disgrace to her family. 

One night, Josey is told that the mine in town is hiring and pays good money.  When she presents this idea to her mother, she is strongly discouraged from even thinking about making such a drastic career move, not because it is dangerous, but that it would bring shame to her father, a long-time mine worker.

Josey then moves out of her parent’s house to live with a friend as she prepares to work at the mine, against her parents’ wishes.

In order to work there, the women first have to take a physical exam, much like the one that women get on a yearly basis.

When notified, Josey attends orientation at the mine, and as soon as it begins, the sexual connotation begins.  The women are told to just lighten up and take it as jokes, as the women themselves are just disgusted. 

During their tour of the compound, many workers, mostly men, make gestures and comments toward the women as they walk by. 

The sexual harassment isn’t just limited to that though. 

As Josey gets ready for lunch, she’s told to look in her lunch box before she goes into the cafeteria.  Although, Josey is in the clear, one of the other ladies is not so lucky.

The men proceed to write obscenities on the walls of the women’s dressing room and work areas.

One man in particular, Bobby Sharp (played by Jeremy Renner) was once Josey’s love interest and now is one of the biggest jerks in the mine.  He continues to make sexual advances at Josey and finally attacks her. 

By now, Josey has already made several complaints about how the women get treated in the mine.  But she is told that they are not wanted there and if she wants to work with the men, then she should “suck it up” like one.

After her attack, she decides to sue the mine company, with help from current love interest Bill White (played by Woody Harrelson).

While in court, the truth about Josey’s past surfaces, and the theme of “What was I supposed to do,” continues.

The rest, as they say, is history.

This movie is a slap in the face for the new generation due to the fact that it shows exactly what women had to go through in some work situations just to be able to make a living.  These women weren’t exactly jumping to the opportunity for liberation in a workplace where they weren’t even wanted.  Most, rather, tried to hide from confrontation at all costs.

Granted Theron’s Minnesota accent wavers, her performance is definitely memorable.

Everyone needs to see this movie, if not for historical purposes, then to add to a collection of top movies of the year.

Hopefully, others will see the virtuosity in this movie as I did.