NORTH COUNTRY (2005). Charlize Theron delivers a gritty performance -- a logical follow-up to her Oscar-winning turn in Monster -- in this Norma Rae-esque drama based loosely on a landmark class-action sexual-harassment case. Here her Josey Aimes is a struggling mother just out of an abusive marriage. To feed her children, Josey trades a beauty-shop gig for a hard hat and higher pay in a mine. It's the late '80s, Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill fill the TV, and mining in northern Minnesota is a man's world where calls of "cunt," gropes, and shit sandwiches greet the few women who venture into the pits. Josey takes the issue upstairs and matters escalate. Niki Caro (Whale Rider) directs with a caring hand, and the ensemble cast, including Frances McDormand, Sean Bean, Richard Jenkins, and Woody Harrelson (as Josey's reluctant lawyer), is superb. What's not is the way the harrowing ordeal turns into a courtroom melodrama full of staged, scene-chewing moments. (123m)

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