North Country
May 2011
The Real Story Behind The Reel Almost every movie that is either inspired by a true story or based on a true story doesn’t convey the real story. Unless it’s a documentary then the movie more than likely isn’t the true story. Hollywood directors and writers take real stories of people and their lives and make them into a big Hollywood production. Therefore, the true story is lost in all the action and drama that the writers put into these movies. There are a huge number of movies that are like this. One in particular would be North Country starring Charlize Theron. This movie is a fictionalized account of the first major sexual harassment case in the United States—Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit (North Country). The movie is inspired by a brave woman who fought so hard for what she wanted, but the movie portrays her actual story very little in the movie. The scenes in the movie are completely “Hollywood” and show no real story beside the fact that there were actual court trials. The court trial scenes in the movie are all made up and completely dramatized but the movie shows that there were actual court trials and in the end the women working for the mines won the lawsuit. The true story can be told through the court trial scenes but aren’t within the movie.
The real story of this woman is way more than some dramatic moments made up in a movie, its real life issues that can never be fully expressed in a movie. The woman who inspired North Country was Lois Jenson who worked in the mines of Eveleth Taconite Co. Lois worked in the mines from 1975 to 1992 in northern Minnesota (Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.). She and other women co- workers had to endure the men that worked at the mine. They were very vocal about their opposition to the women working at the mine right from the start and that disapproval turned ugly quickly. Pornographic pictures and
The Real Story Behind The Reel Almost every movie that is either inspired by a true story or based on a true story doesn’t convey the real story. Unless it’s a documentary then the movie more than likely isn’t the true story. Hollywood directors and writers take real stories of people and their lives and make them into a big Hollywood production. Therefore, the true story is lost in all the action and drama that the writers put into these movies. There are a huge number of movies that are like this. One in particular would be North Country starring Charlize Theron. This movie is a fictionalized account of the first major sexual harassment case in the United States—Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit (North Country). The movie is inspired by a brave woman who fought so hard for what she wanted, but the movie portrays her actual story very little in the movie. The scenes in the movie are completely “Hollywood” and show no real story beside the fact that there were actual court trials. The court trial scenes in the movie are all made up and completely dramatized but the movie shows that there were actual court trials and in the end the women working for the mines won the lawsuit. The true story can be told through the court trial scenes but aren’t within the movie.
The real story of this woman is way more than some dramatic moments made up in a movie, its real life issues that can never be fully expressed in a movie. The woman who inspired North Country was Lois Jenson who worked in the mines of Eveleth Taconite Co. Lois worked in the mines from 1975 to 1992 in northern Minnesota (Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.). She and other women co- workers had to endure the men that worked at the mine. They were very vocal about their opposition to the women working at the mine right from the start and that disapproval turned ugly quickly. Pornographic pictures and
Cited: Calson, Stephanie. “Background on Class Action Suit.” National Women’s History Museum. Web. 28 May 2011. Charu. “Lois Jenson: The Inspiration Behind ‘North Country’ Starring Charlize Theron.” 2005. Web. 28 May 2011. Ebert, Roger. “North Country.” Web. 28 May 2011. “Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.” Wikipedia. 11 March 2011. Web. 28 May 2011. “North Country.” The Internet Movie Database. Web. 28 May 2011. “North Country.” Wikipedia. Web. 28 May 2011.