Grade: B | Genre: Drama
Summary: Okay, I get it already, men are bad, women are good. A well made, gritty drama that is hard to watch, goes for the jugular, and almost misses the heart.

In North Country, director Niki Caro of Whale Rider fame, has recreated another unfamiliar culture brilliantly and in the process managed to scoop up an Oscar winning cast to perform this strong drama, but North Country delivers a harsh message at the expense of the book it was "inspired" from and without the subtle grace needed to carry it off. I am not saying this is a bad film, in fact in today's marketplace, it is a powerhouse of a drama, with Oscar-baiting scene after scene in it, but it is almost too much to bare with the relentlessness of continual harassment that the character Josey Aimes endures from nearly every male in her life. Screenwriter Michael Seitzman has taken this rather dated material from a novel based on the first sexual harassment class action suit in this country, which changed the fabric of the American workplace forever. The problem for me is that the original story was far more moving and powerful than the cliches I find in this script, and that is a shame for it was a hell of a story.