Susan B. Anthony has her head on a quarter, Sandra Day O'Connor served on the Supreme Court of the United States for 24 years, and those Seneca Falls chicks have a whole month of women's history. So what did Lois Jenson get after her 22-year crusade for women's equality in the workplace? The right to bust her butt in the mines of Northern Minnesota's Iron Range.
Jenson's tale comes to the big screen this fall in the form of "North Country," a gut-wrenching, based-on-a-true-story drama that follows the fictitious Josie Aimes (Charlize Theron) and the events leading up to the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit in U. S. history.
The film opens with Josie returning home to her parents' house with her two children in tow, the battle-scarred refugees of Josie's struggle against abusive male partners. When Josie takes a job at the mine where her father works, she sees that she is far from breaking the vicious cycle of sexual violence that has always haunted her. The mines are rife with unchecked sexual harassment, and Josie must risk her reputation, her family, and even her life to reverse these injustices.
With her Academy Award (for 2003's "Monster") still fresh, Theron took on the role of Josie with a clear intention to make a second bid for Oscar gold. The challenge is formidable: in her public life, Josie Aimes is a bold trailblazer, but inside, she's a mess. Raped by her high school teacher at 16, Josie suffered the stigma of teenage motherhood and physical abuse at the hands of her second child's father.
At the mines, she learns that sexual harassment means more than pubic hair on a Coke can: the small minority of female workers find themselves victims of insults, threats, sexual assault and cruelly nauseating practical jokes, often involving human excretions.
Theron manages the inner conflict admirably, although she sometimes develops a flat effect that is puzzling in its impassiveness. For a woman who is experiencing as much turmoil as Josie, Theron is often stone-faced and monotone. She is much more convincing in scenes that require intense passion. It will be interesting to see if the Academy will still be as smitten with her come this winter.
The real star of the film is Frances McDormand, whose third nomination for Best Supporting Actress is in the bag. Based on Jenson's co-worker Pat Kosmach, McDormand's character, Glory, was the first female miner in American history. When Josie starts causing a stir, Glory is instrumental in persuading other frightened women to rally around Josie's cry.
Director Niki Caro told the Daily she courted McDormand for the role of Glory, because she needed someone who wouldn't sentimentalize the character. In the midst of Josie's equal rights quest, Glory begins to succumb to the ravages of Lou Gehrig's disease, but never she loses her edge. True to her calling, McDormand is just as rough and tough as the real Kosmach, appearing in court hooked up to an IV, using her electronic larynx to berate those who tried to patronize her and facing certain death with a bold dignity.
Although Hollywood heavyweight Sissy Spacek is grossly underused as Josie's mom Alice, the supporting cast excellently fleshes out the story. Most notable among these are Woody Harrelson as Aimes' wishy-washy lawyer and Richard Jenkins as Hank Aimes, the father who is surprisingly unwilling to support Josie's stance.
Director Niki Caro proved her worth as a storyteller with 2002's critically acclaimed "Whale Rider," and her work in "North Country" is just as masterful. The film is startlingly profound; shot on location in the dead of a Minnesota winter and in the bowels of a real mine, the movie packs a breathtaking visual punch that mimics the impact and import of Josie's onscreen battle and Jenson's real-life crusade.
Caro has the rare ability to juxtapose such broad, sweeping vistas with intimate depictions of her characters' innermost moments. Whether she's capturing Josie's awe and wonderment upon stepping into the gargantuan mines for the first time or showing the same woman's private breakdowns, Caro does so with insight and skill.
Unfortunately, despite Caro's savvy as a storyteller, the tale isn't so tightly woven. Screenwriter Michael Seitzman, the man responsible for adapting Clara Bingham's book "Class Action," isn't as adept at the big picture-small picture balancing act as his director.
Seitzman's use of fictitious names for the characters and the admonition that the movie is merely "inspired by" actual events makes us doubt the veracity of the story. This is a genuine shame - most of the atrocities depicted in the film actually happened.
Jenson's court battle lasted from 1979 to 1991, but "North Country" only shows a small segment of that saga, focusing instead on the more detailed account of the pre-trial happenings.
While it would obviously be impossible and unnecessary to condense 22 years of legal mumbo-jumbo into a single film, it would have been nice to have the results of the trial incorporated into "North Country" with more than just a black-screen, text-only epithet.
After all, if Lois Jenson isn't going to get her head on a coin any time soon, it's the least they could do.
