Rich seam of natural justice

New Zealander Niki Caro's film is "based on a true story", which often means it is nothing like the real truth. But in this case, until the finale, during which you can tick off the Hollywood courtroom clichés one by one, with the help of a first-class cast, Caro orchestrates the sexist plight of the women who became iron miners in northern Minnesota.

There is also cinematography from Britain's Chris Menges that paints the wintry industrial scene with real skill.

The women eventually won their battle to be treated with respect, largely through hastily passed legislation on sexual harassment, but only after one of them, a young single mother with two children to support, had stood up in court to complain. Only the fiction of the court scenes tampers with the real truth.

The single mother is played by Charlize Theron with as much range and resource as she managed as the serial killer in Monster. Frances McDormand, one of America's most consistent screen actors, plays her friend with equal skill. Sissy Spacek is there, too, as the girl's anxious mother.

North Country is polemical, emotional, moving and frustrating in turn. Frustrating because the first two-thirds is so good that one resents the final descent into melodrama the more.

It is admitted that the men, though sexist to the core and unbelievably vile to the women, did have a point. They were working the mine at a time when unemployment was rife and the presence of women in so hard and dirty a job seemed tantamount to depriving some of them of their living.

Though clearly on the women's side, the film is fair enough about the bitter resentment of the unionised males.

But it shows with commendable lack of restraint the appalling behaviour that greeted the women and the bravery of the young mother who eventually put a stop to it.

The court scenes are another matter. We have lawyer Woody Harrelson reluctantly taking on her case - of course he's going to fall for the girl - and a ludicrous sequence in which he appeals to the silent majority of the scared women, who then stand up one by one to be counted.

Despite this, North County is still one of the better American films of the year, superbly cast and made by a young director who knows how to involve her audience.