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Epicurus.com - North Country (Widescreen Edition)
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List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $9.99
Your Save: $ 4.99 ( 33% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Starring: Charlize Theron, Jeremy Renner, Frances McDormand, Elle Peterson, Thomas Curtis
Directed By: Niki Caro
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 0012569593404
Format: AC-3
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2006-02-21
Running Time: 126
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 2005-10-21
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Editorial Reviews:
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When Josey Aimes (Academy Award winner CHARLIZE THERON) returns to her hometown in Northern Minnesota after a failed marriage, she needs a good job. A single mother with two children to support, she turns to the predominant source of employment in the region - the iron mines. The mines provide a livelihood that has sustained a community for generations. The work is hard but the pay is good and friendships that form on the job extend into everyday life, bonding families and neighborhoods with a common thread. DVD Features:
Deleted Scenes
Documentaries
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: North Country Review
Comment: This was a movie that completely took me off guard in so many ways. Based on a true story, it made it even more compelling.
The story of a young wife who was beaten, so took her 2 children and fled to start over at her parent's home. She had kept a secret for years that had cost her reputation in the town and with her own family.
She took a job for a mining company when women working in the field was very rare. She and the other women suffered horrendous working conditions, as they all fight hard to simply provide a better life for their families.
As the abuse at work becomes unbearable, she hires a burnt out lawyer to bring a class action suit against the company, something that had never been done before. Nearly the entire town turns against her.
When her father finally stands up for his daughter in the face of this onslaught of slander, lies & viciousness, I was crying. This situation turned to victory at the darkest hour. This is an amazing woman that I feel is a current unsung hero.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of those instances where a heavy hand would have been welcome...
Comment: It's true that `North Country' sports a weighty message; but it is also true, very true, that for the most part that heavy message manages to feel light. A lot of directors struggle with finding a balance between sentiment and saccharine; between weighty importance and muddy self-importance. Some directors have made a career out of defining this genre or brand of drama (take Ron Howard and Penny Marshall for instance) and yet still others have attempted and failed at the very same feat. In this regard, director Niki Caro succeeds; to an extent.
`North Country' never feels too thick.
The film tells the true story (or at least the parts they want to tell) of a young woman pushed the brink of her tolerance who is eventually forced to take action against those persecuting her. Josey Aimes has had a bad life. She got pregnant while still in high school, has pretty much been disowned by her father and has just left her abusive husband, toting her two young children back to mom and dads house. In an attempt to get her life in order she takes a job up at the mine, doing man's work, and quickly finds that the abuse she faces at the workplace is just as severe and almost more degrading than anything she faced with her ex-husband. As she struggles through each and every day of work she comes home to a family that shuns her, a son that hates her, a father that blames her for everything and a town that is growing tired of her complaints. She has no where to turn, but when things get too extreme on the workfront she decides to take the matter to the courts.
The true story that inspired this film is truly groundbreaking for it managed to pave the way for better work environments for women and men alike. This is a very important story to tell, and for the most part the story is told well.
My only issue with `North Country' is that at times it felt overly simple. It was just this feeling I got while watching the majority of the film; this feeling that there had to be more to this story. It kind of felt a little like a television movie, like a lifetime movie even. It was weighty yet felt airy in many scenes and that feeling tended to drag on for some time. The film picked up major pace as the inevitable conclusion came peering around the corner, and the courtroom scenes and flashbacks that fill in a few gaps are startling and heartbreaking, but they feel almost like too little too late. The film tries to serve up sentiment with the side story of Glory, Josey's friend, and her illness but it feels like just that, a side story.
The acting is generally very good and at times even great. A lot of people claim that Charlize Theron's Oscar nomination was ridiculous and undeserved, but I actually found her performance to be utterly unforgettable. My only wish is that she had held on to her accent throughout the entire film. There are some scenes (particularly with McDormand, who we know has perfected the accent from `Fargo') where her accent is spot on perfection, and if she had held it in every scene then her performance may even rival her Oscar winning `Monster' perf. The rest of the acting is good; Richard Jenkins, Sean Bean and Woody Harrelson serving up the best performances in the bunch. Jeremy Renner is convincing as the sleaze-ball town slacker and Sissy Spacek is touching as Josey's concerned mother. I have to say that I love Frances McDormand, but her performance is nothing special. She has an illness and the Academy obviously went crazy for that, but her nomination seemed kind of lazy to me, especially when you consider all of the actresses who delivered brilliant performances that same year (Maria Bello, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Scarlett Johansson). She is effective, but not award worthy.
In the end I have to say that `North Country' is a good film, but it could have been better. It is an important film, but the message would feel even more resonant if the delivery had been a little better. Definitely see this movie, but don't expect a film that is as groundbreaking as the real life story that inspired it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: North Counrty
Comment: Oscar winner Chalize Theron stars in 'North Country'. -All she wanted to do was work and be able to earn a living at her job -- nothing doing!!! Wonderful movie in the way 'Silkwood' was a wonderful movie... Doing the Best they can: This type of GRIT and earned success doesn't come around everyday: Senator Hillary Clinton has it: In the 2008 Presidential Primary race, Hillary Clinton not only earned more votes than any of her rivals, she earned more votes than any other Presidential Primary candidate in the history of America (and earned 311 electoral votes, to her Party's presumptive nominee who earned 227 - 270 needed to win in November - On August 28,2008, the Party chooses it's nominee for President)
Customer Rating:
Summary: North Country
Comment: I searched high and low at various outlet stores for this movie (I had borrowed it from a friend and while on a trip lost the DVD) and was not having any luck. A friend suggested I try AMAZON.com and I could not believe my luck, not only did I find it, but at a great price too. I had the DVD within a week of ordering. I will definitely turn to AMAZON for my future purchases.
Customer Rating:
Summary: IT'S ONLT ME BUT:
Comment: GOOD STORY ABOUT A SINGLE MOM TRYING TO IMPROVE HER LIFE WORKING A A COAL MINE TO EARN MORE MONEY. SHOWS THE PREJUDICE SHOWN BY THE MEN WHO DON'T WANT WOMEN TO WORK THERE. A SECONDARY ISSUE IS THE STORY ABOUT THE RAPE THAT RESULTED IN HER SON, THAT SHE HAS NEVER TALKED ABOUT. IT ALL COMES OUT IN THE END. JM
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