NEWLY separated from her abusive husband, single mother Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron) packs her suitcases, grabs her two children - young daughter Karen (Elle Peterson) and teenage son Sammy (Thomas Curtis) - and heads back to Northern Minnesota to start anew.

While she gets her life back in order, Josey stays with her parents Hank (Richard Jenkins) and Alice (Sissy Spacek), and lands a job at the local mine, hauling coal alongside old friend Dodge Glory (Frances McDormand).

When Josey becomes the victim of inappropriate overtures and sexist insults, some of it from her former high school sweetheart Bobby Sharp (Jeremy Renner), she refuses to stay silent, hiring a lawyer, Bill White (Woody Harrelson), to file a lawsuit for sexual harassment.

The legal battle stirs up ill feeling in the local community, forcing Josey to question the terrible personal cost of her crusade.

Inspired by a true story, North Country is an impassioned account of one woman's brave stand against injustice.

While the film's intentions are certainly noble and the underlying sentiments heartfelt, as a drama, it is somewhat plodding, building to a courtroom showdown that is guilty of crocodile tears and emotional manipulation.

Strangely, for a film about female empowerment, the male protagonists ultimately determine and dictate the women's fate.

Theron embraces the ballsy and sometimes unflattering lead role - think Erin Brockovich in a hard hat - with gusto, with strong support from McDormand as one of the veteran female workers at the mine, who has gradually won the men's respect by suffering their jokes and tackling discrimination with the rules and regulations set down in union policy.

DVD extras incldue Stories From The North Country featurette and nine deleted scenes.

Damon Smith