There are no random scenes in modern day filmmaking. Each scene is crafted to mirror the overall meaning, mood or idea behind the film it exists within. Like any great art, film is designed by the director to entertain but also inspire thought and reflection upon the ideas it presents. The 2005 film North Country directed by Niki Caro is no exception to the rule, providing a fair amount of emotional manipulation through music, mood and angles. North Country uses cinematography, identification and music to provide a feminist view of the female experience during the 1970s.
A haunting musical score paired with dark cinematography sets the tone for North Country. The first shot of the film focuses upon Karen Aimes, daughter of the protagonist Josey, undressing a blond barbie followed by a narrated voiceover of Josey saying, “Lady, you sit in your nice house, clean floors, your bottled water, your flowers on valentine's day and you think you're tough? Wear my shoes, tell me tough” (North Country 2005). Josey's’ narrated voiceover is paired alongside clips of her unnamed …show more content…
Instead of using the basic design for film narrative, including a rising action, climax, falling action; Caro seemed to extend the length of distress for all female characters. Josey receives constant ridicule from her father, her son, Billy and all male coworkers through the end of the film. The female mine workers could not catch a break throughout the entire movie either. While this might have been the true telling of events, it felt like a statement from the director. Perhaps Caro wanted the public to understand the true hardship of what it meant to be a woman in a man's’ world, so much so that she reminded the audience every chance she got. The ability to see this situation through the eyes of a woman remains a powerful statement by Caro but arguably
A haunting musical score paired with dark cinematography sets the tone for North Country. The first shot of the film focuses upon Karen Aimes, daughter of the protagonist Josey, undressing a blond barbie followed by a narrated voiceover of Josey saying, “Lady, you sit in your nice house, clean floors, your bottled water, your flowers on valentine's day and you think you're tough? Wear my shoes, tell me tough” (North Country 2005). Josey's’ narrated voiceover is paired alongside clips of her unnamed …show more content…
Instead of using the basic design for film narrative, including a rising action, climax, falling action; Caro seemed to extend the length of distress for all female characters. Josey receives constant ridicule from her father, her son, Billy and all male coworkers through the end of the film. The female mine workers could not catch a break throughout the entire movie either. While this might have been the true telling of events, it felt like a statement from the director. Perhaps Caro wanted the public to understand the true hardship of what it meant to be a woman in a man's’ world, so much so that she reminded the audience every chance she got. The ability to see this situation through the eyes of a woman remains a powerful statement by Caro but arguably