Niki Caro’s North Country

“I was shocked,” says director Niki Caro. “Shocked that these events happened, that they happened so recently, and that they probably still happen.” The New Zealand filmmaker’s latest project, North Country, is inspired by a 1984 class-action suit (the first of its kind) filed against Minnesota’s Eveleth Mines, in which miner Lois Jenson protested the crippling sexual harassment so rampant in mining culture. “The film serves as a bracing reminder of how badly human beings can treat one another,” Caro says. “It's also a reminder of how far we've come. And how far we haven't come.”

Based loosely on the 2002 book Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law, Caro steadily details the heartbreaking degradation Jenson was forced to endure while underground. Appropriately, North Country never shies from the gritty truth. “I was really compelled by the fact that a studio had the balls to tell this story,” Caro confesses. “It's a really provocative film for this time. It’s another way of talking about sex. And everyone wants to have that conversation.” Caro cast Charlize Theron as Josey Aimes, a character inspired by Jenson, and Frances McDormand as her mother, Glory. “Charlize is an actor to be reckoned with,” Caro declares. “On every level.”

Caro, who earned well-deserved praise for 2002’s Whale Rider, doesn’t claim complete fidelity to the case: “The film is inspired by [the book]. That’s a really glib way of taking what you need. The film is fictitious, but the events are real. Without an ounce of cynicism, I am inspired by those women.”