ChiefsPlanet - View Single Post

Jenson71 · 08-06-2009, 01:22 PM

I watched North Country last night. It wasn't treated as seriously as it should have been. It was far too formulaic to rise above the treshold of 'inspiring, touching, powerful' movies that any studio and director can hand out to an audience.

The story is about sexual harrassment, and revolves around a landmark state court case dealing with that issue. It is treated though as heavy as the northern accents used by the actors to portray simple, working class Minnesota life. The treatment the woman at the mine go through is almost surreal and seems foreign or ancient. It thows this on the audience, and then counters it with sentimentality that seems far too quick and lacking any development. Consider the main character's (played by the talented Charlize Theron) father. In one scene, he talks about how the daughter has disgraced their family all her life. Within moments, he is sticking up for her at a union meeting. Not enough introspection on his part warrants this dramatic change, which is a pivotal scene in the movie.

The courtroom scenes aren't good, far too melodramatic, like when a lawyer belittles a witness hard enough that he makes an aburpt and key change in his testimony without any objections from the opposing lawyer, or when the courtroom stands up in solidarity with our heroine. It was eerily similar to Disney's Angels in the Outfield when the entire crowd stands up and flaps their arms in the big game. Or when the heroine's friend Glory, now half dead with Lou Gehrig's Disease, knocks on the walls to get the attention of the court and has her husband read a statement that only the heroine would really understand.

Charlize Theron is a good actress though and her showing of love for her children and the problems she goes through are acted ith care and subtly. The events, however, are not, and neither are the direction of those events. Do audiences not understand the wrongness of sexual harrassment unless they visually see a man's sperm on a female coworker's jacket and her breakdown in response? Can audiences only understand a change in a person's feelings through a powerful eureka moment? In those regards, it was a little disappointing, though the cinematography, lead actors, and Bob Dylan soundtrack (a man from Minnesota who sang of a girl from the north country) held it together.

08-06-2009, 01:22 PM	#3291
Jenson71 fides quaerens intellectum Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: United States Casino cash: $8330900	I watched North Country last night. It wasn't treated as seriously as it should have been. It was far too formulaic to rise above the treshold of 'inspiring, touching, powerful' movies that any studio and director can hand out to an audience. The story is about sexual harrassment, and revolves around a landmark state court case dealing with that issue. It is treated though as heavy as the northern accents used by the actors to portray simple, working class Minnesota life. The treatment the woman at the mine go through is almost surreal and seems foreign or ancient. It thows this on the audience, and then counters it with sentimentality that seems far too quick and lacking any development. Consider the main character's (played by the talented Charlize Theron) father. In one scene, he talks about how the daughter has disgraced their family all her life. Within moments, he is sticking up for her at a union meeting. Not enough introspection on his part warrants this dramatic change, which is a pivotal scene in the movie. The courtroom scenes aren't good, far too melodramatic, like when a lawyer belittles a witness hard enough that he makes an aburpt and key change in his testimony without any objections from the opposing lawyer, or when the courtroom stands up in solidarity with our heroine. It was eerily similar to Disney's Angels in the Outfield when the entire crowd stands up and flaps their arms in the big game. Or when the heroine's friend Glory, now half dead with Lou Gehrig's Disease, knocks on the walls to get the attention of the court and has her husband read a statement that only the heroine would really understand. Charlize Theron is a good actress though and her showing of love for her children and the problems she goes through are acted ith care and subtly. The events, however, are not, and neither are the direction of those events. Do audiences not understand the wrongness of sexual harrassment unless they visually see a man's sperm on a female coworker's jacket and her breakdown in response? Can audiences only understand a change in a person's feelings through a powerful eureka moment? In those regards, it was a little disappointing, though the cinematography, lead actors, and Bob Dylan soundtrack (a man from Minnesota who sang of a girl from the north country) held it together.
Posts: 15,986