North Country (2005)
North Country (2005) I was very angry after watching North Country. The movie does a huge injustice to an extraordinary book called Class Action, on which it is ‘ loosely inspired.’ It also disses Lois Jenson, a real heroine of the movement, whose struggle over 25 years created a new law on hostile environment and sexual harassment. Turning a protracted struggle into a happy-face family melodrama proves that commercial media, even with the best intentions, is fearful of really showing workers’ issues.
Lois Jenson was a child of the series of consent decrees in the mid-1970s, created by Title VII of The Civil Rights Act of 1964 that forced the steel industry to hire and promote women and blacks. She was a single mother of two children from different fathers and a minimum wage worker in a desolate and male-dominated Mesabi range.
The movie’s most offensive change is to take away the women’s struggle and to portray it as a cause that succeeded because men began to carry it. In the process, the movie fabricates whole new characters and family situations which are beyond even the usual Hollywoodization. The movie collapses all of the legal proceedings into a short and dramatic trial in which a stern but ultimately sympathetic judge grants Josie the class action status she wants. In real life, Lois’ legal case took almost 15 years to finish and was handled by a series of judges who frustrated her by their opinions and their delays.
All of this criticism is not to totally ignore the power of the movie. Many people who have seen the movie but not read the book were moved by it. There are powerful scenes and, on its own, North Country is a compelling story with impressive performances and production work.
Bill Barry Community College of Baltimore County bbarry@ccbcmd.edu
