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North Country
R4 - Australia - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (17th July 2006). |
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The Film
 New Zealand filmmaker Niki Caro made her mark with the sensational Whale Rider (2002), the film was one of the most successful in New Zealand. It had taken the filmmaker around the world from one film festival to the next. The United States, admittedly the hardest market to crack, had embraced the film. The film surprisingly earned the young actress Keisha Castle-Hughes with an Oscar nomination for ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’. It’s fair to say that this film certainly launched careers, Caro’s included when she earned a spot in Fade Magazine’s "100 People in Hollywood You Need to Know". The success of Whale Rider meant that all eyes where on the filmmaker for her next project. North Country is the true story of the first class action law suit that helped set the precedent for sexual harassment laws in the workplace. It tells the story of a group of female mine workers who are continually treated badly, harassed and sexually confronted on a daily bases. This story would serve as Caro’s follow-up to Whale Rider and admittedly a very good one at that. Josie (Charlize Theron) takes her company to court with the help of attorney Bill White (Woody Harrelson) as she not only battles the aggressive defense from her company, but also family struggles but also the fact that her own friends and fellow female co-workers are too scared to stand up along side her. As far as true stories go this has got to be one of the more socially important issues to cover, the fair treatment of women in the workplace is as basic a right. Although this is the main thrust of the story, it’s ultimately the strong-willed character of Josie that engages the viewer. Continually knocked down, she gets back up and continues to move forward no matter how many steps she is forced to take back. This solid determination and underdog status helps gain the audience sympathy. And we root for her throughout. Bringing a human and totally emotional character to life is Oscar winner Charlize Theron, proving that her Oscar win was not just a fluke. Her performance is striking and real, I’m convinced that Theron completely understood the person she was playing and knew her vulnerabilities and strengths and played them like a symphony onscreen. Theron continues to impress and certainly isn’t just another pretty face. The support cast are equally impressive, most especially the brilliant and complicated turn from Frances McDormand, whose health progressively deteriorates. McDormand’s character is reduced to silence near the film’s end, despite this she manages to deliver one of the most moving moments of the film without uttering a single word as her husband Kyle (Sean Bean) reads a letter to the court. Woody Harrelson‘s return to the screen however wasn’t exactly a stellar comeback as one would like to see, frankly this part didn’t really challenge Harrelson, like those he played in Natural Born Killers (1994) and The People Vs. Larry Flint (1996). Frankly he walked through this part with ease and if it wasn’t for his name appearing on the poster and DVD cover art his involvement in this film would probably have been forgotten. The film uses a fractured narrative to tell its story, inter-cutting the courtroom sequences within the film instead of showing the events in chronological order leading up to and including the trial. This method works well for this story and presents the film in a unique way; this manages to retain the viewer’s attention. North Country does have some hallmarks of great filmmaking, it certainly is an engaging story and has some powerful performances, however I wasn’t totally blown away by it. It doesn’t really break new ground in filmmaking, especially in the genre of inspirational true stories, it felt long and I was occasionally checking my watch throughout the film. As the film neared the end, I did learn something and I came out witnessing some fine acting so it was worth it.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.40:1 this anamorphic transfer is gorgeous. The image is sharp and clear, colours are balanced appropriately to evoke a sense of mood, and for example the exteriors and scenes that take place in the mine are muted. Blacks are deep and bold, shadow detail is consistent especially in the some of the darker scenes in the mines. Skin tones range from desaturated to natural (again dependant on scene and location). This transfer nicely represents the filmmaker’s vision and I struggle to find any flaws.
Audio
This film includes only two audio tracks, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track as well as an English Descriptive Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround track for the visually impaired. I viewed the film with the standard 5.1 track, dialogue was clear and distortion free, aside from this I wasn’t all that amazed by this sound track. The surrounds were largely inactive, and kicked in during the mining scenes and for music. I wasn’t entirely immersed in this film’s sound track. Depth could have been created with stronger directional effects. This track does it job at a basic level. Optional subtitles are included in Arabic, Dutch, English, English for the hearing impaired, Hebrew and Icelandic.
Extras
"Stories From the North Country" is a featurette which runs for 16 minutes 5 seconds. This clip interviews some of the real women behind this story as well as the filmmakers. The women tell of their experiences in working in the mine and the precedent they established as a result of this case. Additionally the filmmakers discuss how they were ultimately inspired by this story, and throw around key words such as authenticity when bringing this story to the screen. This clips goes a little further than the average EPK, and includes some substance, however it still only manages to peak one’s interest and leaves you wanting more. 9 additional scenes are also included on this disc, they play in a reel that runs for 11 minutes 6 seconds. The scenes included are: - Hate all men this is a courtroom scene in which the defense tries to paint Josie as a man hater. - Josie and Sammy Sammy tries to comfort his mother as she lets out some tears. - Glory’s Hand While on the job, we get a glimpse of her Lou Gehrig’s disease creeping in, as she struggles to shift her clutch of her earth mover. - Trampoline Sammy plays a little rough with his sister as he jumps up and down on the trampoline while she’s under it. - Karen to Bed Josie and her daughter share a moment before bedtime. - They’re Lying Josie gets mad outside the courtroom. - Kyle Visits Glory Kyle takes time to visit his wife in hospital and cleans her up a little as we see her deteriorated state. - You Stand up Josie and her lawyer Bill prepare for the next day in court; Bill breaks down because he has never tried a case in court. - I’ve Not Been A Good Friend Josie visits Glory in hospital and apologises for not being there for her while under care. Rounding out the extras is the film’s original theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 20 seconds. If you pop the DVD into your PC can access some web links through a DVD-ROM feature.
Overall
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