North Country

North Country is based on a true event in which a group of female miners filed a sexual harrasment class action and won. It's THE lawsuit that gets the whole world busy at plugging holes in company regulations. North Country has all the trappings one can expect from a courtroom drama - the oppressors plunge their claws into the oppressed and the great injustice is not righted until the very end of the 2-hr running time (albeit in reality, it takes a full decade to reach the ruling). Maybe melodrama is the most effective way to rid the insouciance over the perils of others ever so typical of modern people.

But where it lacks in innovation, it more than makes up for with a formidable cast, especially Charlize Theron as Josey. She lives the character, almost effortlessly. The supporting cast is equally brilliant, including Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sean Bean. Richard Jenkins, as Josey's father, is also remarkable. The scene in which he stands up for his daughter in a hall packed to the rafters with male chauvinist pigs is powerful and effecting. Emotional but not setimental. The one thing I don't like is that it protrays Josey and her co-workers as all-round victims of the patriarch. The arguement for female empowerment should not be buttressed by the fact that some of them are sufferers; it's basic human rights, plain and simple. It's what makes the whole feminist movement go awry at times. But I digress. Anyway, a well made feel-good movie without ideas or statements of real significance.