HLJ's Movie Blog

North Country

North Country is another movie, like Hotel Rwanda and City of God, which was “inspired by a true story.� I think this story is, however, very loosely based on the real events surrounding the first class action sexual harassment lawsuit. It was a moving story. I cried when Josey stood up at the union meeting and then her dad Hank got up at the union meeting to defend her and to speak out against the bad behavior of some of the men. Of course the only reason he did it is because his wife left him, but it illustrated the point that change starts when one person to stands up and speaks out against injustice. At this time you should stand up, raise your hand in a fist and shout, “Right on, sister!�

The best scene in the whole movie is when we find out that Josey was raped by her teacher when she was in high school. The lawyer from Pearson’s asks who Sammy’s father is in order to discredit Josey and make her seem promiscuous. Instead of Josey telling what happened, we see what happened in a flashback. We see the teacher pin her to the door and rape her. We see Bobby watching her being raped and running away. We also see the reaction on the faces of the people in the court as the truth unfolds. The flashback gives a better sense of how painful it was for her, not only because she was raped but because her friend at the time stood by and did nothing to help her. This scene also makes it more poignant that Josey, by the end of the movie, isn’t afraid to stand up for herself.

There is another great sequence near the beginning of the film that shows several aerial shots of the mines. You can see the large hole in the earth that is left and all of the machinery that operates to make those holes. I have never seen open pit mining in action, so it was interesting to see some of the mechanics of it. It really shows how that type of mining strips the earth of everything. If you think about it, this is a perfect setting for a story about how women were stripped of their dignity while they worked in the mines.

One other thing I noticed is that everything seemed to be the color of dirt or snow in the movie until the very end. Things have changed by the end of the movie for Josey, her family, the women at the mines, and everyone else in America. Visually, this is captured by the last shot of Josey’s truck driving along the road. The countryside is green and it looks like spring. A subtle way to say, “Just in case you missed it folks, the world has changed and is now much nicer.�