North Country

—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—7. Posters (Charlize Theron)
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections

North Country affirms that truth will set you free, that lives can be renewed and that you are not alone. In the middle, the movie tells the story of a single mother, a working mother, a mother who believes she can attain more for her children.

Josie Aimes (Theron) flees with her two children from an abusive husband, running into the apathetic lives of her parents (Spacek and Jenkins.) In the process of trying to establish her independence, she becomes one of 20-some women who work in the mine in Northern Minnesota. Her son Sammy (Curtis) butts heads with her over her decisions and their animosity grows. Nothing can prepare Aimes for what awaits her in the mine as she seeks a fresh start. Her desire to differentiate herself from her past drives her into the darkness of the mine, and of the souls of the men there.

The beauty of North Country is that no one starts off evil. The sins that each person commits are at first small but grow as their frustration or misguided desires darken their outlook. For the men of the mine, their actions toward the women who work there are reprehensible from the very beginning, but their actions escalate as they become infuriated by Aimes. For Aimes, her present and future are impossible dreams until she deals with the sins others committed against her in the past. The actions Aimes takes seem obvious to us today but the movie shows the importance of Aimes’ class action suit and its impact on the working world. My advice to any man is to see the movie to question sexual harassment/abuse, just like I might advise most folks to see Crash to begin a discussion on racism or classicism.

In the northern country, everyone gets their shot at redemption…and sometimes they get more than one. Apathetic people are forced to take action, as Aimes finally finds that she is being heard. One character asks why the miners would act differently toward her as a co-worker than they did while she was his daughter at the company picnic; others act in small defenses but finally are forced to stand out in front of everyone. We are certainly guilty of this in different situations, showing different faces depending on location. North Country takes it a step further for those of faith: in one scene, a woman takes turns consoling Aimes’ mother, and talking about her behind her back…in church.

I’m biased. I think the Christian community should be the place where the abused, the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the unheard, find healing and truth. Speaking for truth can never go unnoticed as we see in North Country. Apparently the pessimists are wrong, and one person can make a difference and truth can set you free. It certainly sets Aimes and her son free, and appears to have done the same for Aimes and her father. We stand quietly and watch others in need, but North Country charges us to take a stand.

By the time I was through watching the film, I felt like I had seen a movie on the breakthroughs or tragedies of race or religion, like Mississippi Burning or Schindler’s List. Unlike some of our other Oscar options, this fictionalized account ends well for the characters we care about succeeding. The wrapping up of all loose ends is possibly the only disturbing portion of the movie, as I wonder, how many people would vote it for an Oscar and not stand up against injustice the next time they see it?

—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—7. Posters (Charlize Theron)
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections

Into the Blue

—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—7. Posters
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections

The latest Paul Walker flick to hit the big screen is NOT called 3 Fast 3 Furious but it might’ve been, if he had been provided with a faster boat. Unfortunately, Walker’s character Jared is stuck with a fixer-upper and gets fired from his job. Fortunately, Jessica Alba’s character Sam provides him with suitable reason to smile and nod his way through most of the film.

Bahama islanders Jared and Sam are visited by Bryce and Amanda (Scott Caan and Ashley Scott), who they take diving with them, looking for the treasure that Jared dreams of but that Sam knows is almost always out of reach. Jared and Sam are the older, more mature couple—while Jared would chase a dream, Sam keeps him grounded. Bryce is willing to try anything, illegal or not, and Amanda constantly encourages the others to experience danger.

The acting skills shown by all involved are about what should be expected for a September summer movie. Made for MTV might be the best way to describe it, with splashes of surf, picture perfect cast, and plenty of skin thrown in like a music video. Unfortunately, nothing about the plot does anything to really surprise the audience, as for the most part, the give and take has been depicted by others in better crafted ways, before Into the Blue.

In their hunt for treasure, the foursome finds a downed plane filled with drugs. This of course draws the attention of ‘the bad guys’ who are a conglomerate of greedy men, moving in circles of murder, sex and drugs. Fortunately for us, we know that Paul Walker and Jessica Alba are not the kind of actors to be killed off so easily, nor do we actually ever expect them to lose. Like the unknown crewman sent to the unfamiliar planet’s surface in Star Trek, we know someone will get killed, but it won’t be anyone to whom we’ve become attached.

It may be simple instructions from the Action Film’s Instruction Manual, but the temptations that roll down on Jared in waves are non-stop. We see over and over again how Sam’s voice of caution is ignored. We hear the pedantic story of the pirate who sank his treasure for the love of his girl and we know that in the long run, Jared will be forced to make the same choice. What we don’t see is a strong reason to like Jared or Sam, except for maybe their good looks and pleasant smiles. Neither one is a saint but maybe we’re not into sainthood anymore. It might be simply that we want to see our everyday heroes escape unscathed, and that’s what we get in Into the Blue.

Like real life though, greed kills. It comes in the form of drugs, in treasures that exist but appear just out of reach, and in get-rich-quick schemes. It creeps up slowly on the peripheral characters and strikes like a silent assassin, until everyone but the main characters winds up bloody and dead. The deals that Jared and Bryce attempt to strike with the conglomerate of evil bring that death on everyone else but they never pay the price. Bryce obviously has no earthly attachment to anything other than himself and Jared just barely remembers that Sam is worth more than all the treasure in the world. I had hoped that our heroes might learn to put others before themselves!

With an expectation of film to either entertain (and fool me) or teach (and warn me), this action caper proves to be loaded with neither agenda. Instead, I found myself daydreaming about a visit to the Bahamas and diving into the blue myself. But when it comes down to it, we’ve already been warned to store our treasures in heaven, because they can’t be taken away from us. And more importantly, like the pirate, Jesus gave it all up, just to give us the opportunity to spend another day together.

—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—7. Posters
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections