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'North Country': Strong acting in a strong story

North Country is frustratingly good.

That doesn't mean the movie's frustrating because it's good. It's frustrating because it's not the great movie it should have been.

Warner Brothers Pictures 'North Country' B The verdict: Despite some filmmaking flaws, North Country deserves to be seen. Director: Niki Caro Starring: Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Sissy Spacek, Woody Harrelson, Sean Bean Release date: Oct. 14, 2005 Rating: R for sequences involving sexual harassment including violence and dialogue, and for language. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'North Country'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

North Country is inspired by the trials of several female Minnesota miners who successfully sued their company for sexual harassment.

In this heavily fictionalized version of the story, Charlize Theron plays Josey, a composite of the real miners. Having had a child when she was a teenager, Josey develops a reputation as a tramp, falls into abusive relationships, and alienates her family, particularly her father (Richard Jenkins) who is a miner.

Wanting to make something of herself, Josey starts to work in the mine, much to her father's chagrin. Once there, however, Josey and the other women endure increasingly degrading and enraging attacks by the chauvinist miners. Josey eventually has enough and decides to sue.

With such a strong subject and powerful acting, North Country has potential for greatness, but only hints at it. Niki Caro's direction both helps and hinders the film, bringing with her the same strengths and weaknesses of her admirable but overrated breakthrough, Whale Rider. Caro is very good at establishing a sense of place and community in her movies.

Just as she made the Maori and their beliefs compelling in Whale Rider, Caro digs inside the community of the miners, making it easy to see why they behave as they do. When the other female miners decline to join Josey's lawsuit, they don't do so just to be hissable villains. They have very good reasons to keep their mouths shut, not the least of which is aggravating the males even more.

Caro particularly excels at directing actors. Theron, as usual, is striking, showing both strength and vulnerability with great conviction. Jenkins at first seems stuck in a one-note role of disapproving parent, but for reasons I won't reveal, the father has a change of heart. When he finally supports his daughter amid a crowd of his angry co-workers, Jenkins is heartbreaking.

Caro's pacing, however, leaves much to be desired. Several scenes dawdle and meander long after the point has been made, pulling the film's punch. By the time the movie reaches the courtroom, the drama devolves into cheap theatrics. Caro and writer Michael Seitzman try so hard to be crowd-pleasers that the dialogue goes flat and the movie rings false, particularly with the show-off courtroom flamboyance in the climax. Any judge that would allow such goings-on would most likely be disbarred.

Even with these flaws, North Country still deserves to be seen. Since the real-life story prompted companies throughout the nation to start anti-sexual harassment seminars, I have a suggestion. Instead of giving employees a dry lecture, show this film instead.