Theron gives another Oscar performance

The premise of "North Country" had "Lifetime movie" written all over it. Josey Aimes, a single mother, moves back in with her parents and takes a job in a mine to provide for her children. She faces unspeakable sexual harassment, pressure from her son and father to quit and the general torment of the town for daring to "take a job away from a man." She then puts the wheels in motion for the first class-action sexual harassment suit and makes U.S. history. \nIt's a story that could have been easily overblown and melodramatic, but "North Country" pulls it off beautifully. The movie's strength, then, isn't the story it tells, but how it tells it. When emotions run high, as they so often do in "North Country," a black-and-white proving ground just won't hack it. Emotions are complicated, and in a world as bleak as Minnesota's mines, the overlapping social spheres of small town, family and friendships make for a dirty, messy struggle. \nAnd aside from telling a story well, the movie looks beautiful. The landscape itself works like a character -- a cold, relentlessly oppressive character. The long shots of barren forest, empty roads and the hulking presence of the mechanics of the mines give the movie a shivering, broken feel. The courtroom scenes slip a little in their look, but the intensity -- especially of the ending -- make up for it.\nCharlize Theron's performance is Oscar-worthy, and I don't say just that because I have a soft spot for the lone-woman-struggling-against-the-patriarchy genre. Somehow, this South African has become perhaps the best actress when it comes to playing troubled, low-income American women. Theron can't be discussed without mention of her performance in 2003's "Monster." She won an Oscar and a lot of press about how "brave" she was to dare to be ugly for a role, but her character in "North Country" is perhaps more impressive. Theron went all out for "Monster." Josey is more middle-class Midwest, and the pile of trouble she fights through -- and ultimately overcomes -- makes for a more compelling, but more difficult, role. Sissy Spacek's performance as Josey's timid-but-tough mother is spot on, and Richard Jenkins' performance as Josey's father was moving in its honesty. Frances McDormand, the reigning queen of realistic movie characters, pulls of another amazing role, Sean Bean, playing McDormand's badass husband, is the one consistently amazing man in a movie that can be rough on the guys. \nThis movie has the potential of becoming a modern-day "Norma Rae," and it's a fair comparison. "North Country" has it all -- great story, great look, and spades the one element missing from so many movies today: heart.