NORTH COUNTRY — ** 1/2 — Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson; rated R (profanity, vulgarity, rape, violence, sex, brief drugs, brief nudity).
It's disappointing to see a movie start off as subtly and restrained as "North Country" only to get progressively more heavy-handed in its second hour.
This fact-based drama even throws in a story line about a debilitating illness and resorts to blustery courtroom antics just to hammer home its agenda. But the first hour is considerably more effective; it wasn't necessary to bludgeon the audience into submission.
That the film works as well as it does is due to the forcefulness of its performances by a first-rate cast — led by Charlize Theron, who stars as Josey Aimes, an abused Minnesota mother of two. She's finally had enough of her husband's bullying, so she leaves him and looks for ways to support herself and her children (Thomas Curtis and Elle Peterson).
Luckily, her friend Glory (Frances McDormand) helps her find work at a local mine, where the owners have only reluctantly begun hiring women. But the male-dominated workforce there hasn't exactly made Josey and the handful of other women feel welcome. They've subjected them to all kinds of sexual harassment, including cryptic, menacing messages and unwanted sexual contact.
That's more than Josey can stand, so after her protests to management are met with indifference, she enlists the aid of Bill White (Woody Harrelson), a sympathetic attorney with more than passing interest in her and her legal case.
It's clear the filmmakers are trying to make a 21st-century version of "Norma Rae" here, but the film doesn't have nearly as much staying power or emotional resonance as the earlier drama. Niki Caro ("Whale Rider") makes a few questionable directorial choices, including throwing in an ending that isn't nearly as stirring as she and screenwriter Michael Seitzman intended.
Still, there's no denying the primary cast gives its all. Theron's sturdy work proves her Oscar-winning "Monster" turn was no fluke, and both McDormand and Harrelson match her intensity. Richard Jenkins steals a couple of scenes as Josey's tradition-minded father, but Sissy Spacek barely registers in a go-nowhere role as her mother.
"North Country" is rated R for occasional use of strong sexual profanity, crude sexual slang terms and other frank sexual language, a rape scene, violence (including a bar fight, some sexual violence and other violence against women), some brief sexual contact, brief drug content (references), and brief male nudity (a sexual "toy"). Running time: 123 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com