Whistle While They Work

Real women wear flannel: Charlize Theron as Josie Aimes in North Country. Courtesy Warner Bros.

In Niki Caro’s North Country, Charlize Theron plays Josey Aimes, a young mother of two who takes a grungy, thankless job in an iron mine in northern Minnesota. While the pay is better than at her previous job in a beauty salon, Aimes’s new male co-workers are a slobbering pack of Neanderthals; angry that she’s doing a man’s work, they start harassing her with taunts before resorting to outright assault. Hurt and alienated, Aimes enlists a disgraced but sympathetic lawyer (Woody Harrelson) to take the mining company’s executives to court for sexual harassment. The film’s soundtrack features wall-to-wall Bob Dylan (Hibbing, Minnesota’s most famous son), a hint, should you need it, of the film’s left-liberal politics.

North Country isn’t a great film, but it’s an earnest one, and the latest example of an enduring cinematic tradition: the female whistleblower movie. Always based on a true story, these pictures generally transform pretty-faced actresses into legitimate thespians; award nominations are practically handed out at the crafts services table. Here, a brief guide to this hard-won genre.

Sally Field as Norma Rae. Courtesy Fox Home Video.

Norma Rae (1979)
Star: Sally Field
History lesson: In the early ’70s, Crystal Lee Sutton was fired from her job at the J.P. Stevens plant in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina (where she was making $2.65 an hour folding towels) for trying to unionize its employees (all figures U.S. dollars). The Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union won the right to represent the workers at the plant on Aug. 28, 1974. Sutton became a paid organizer for the ACTWU.
The Hollywood version: In 1978, Norma Rae (Field), a hardworking single mother employed at a southern U.S. textile mill, decides to unionize her co-workers at the behest of a New York labour organization. Obsessed with the cause, Rae holds pro-union meetings and incurs the fury of the community and her employers. She is ultimately vindicated when the factory workers vote in favour of a union.
Soapbox moment: Rae stands on a table in a deafening factory and, in order to spur her co-workers, holds up a sign emblazoned in black marker with the word UNION. One by one, her fellows turn off their machines in solidarity.
Legal payoff: In 1977, Sutton was awarded $13,436 in back wages and her job was reinstated by court order.
Critical payoff: Sally Field won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and the Best Actress prize at Cannes. Norma Rae also earned a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture.

Meryl Streep as Karen Silkwood. Photo Twentieth Century Fox/Getty Images.

Silkwood (1983)
Star: Meryl Streep
History lesson: In 1974, 28-year-old Karen Silkwood, a fun-loving employee of Kerr-McGee’s Cimarron Plutonium Recycling Facility in Cimarron, Oklahoma, began to question the company’s appalling safety standards. She threw herself into union work — becoming the first female union committee member in the plant’s history — and began to surreptitiously investigate the company. On her way to an interview with a New York Times reporter, Silkwood died in an unexplained auto accident.
The Hollywood version: Silkwood (Streep), a fun-loving employee of Kerr-McGee’s Cimarron Plutonium Recycling Facility in Cimarron, Oklahoma, begins to question the company’s appalling safety standards. She throws herself into union work — becoming the first female union committee member in the plant’s history — and begins to surreptitiously investigate the company. Meanwhile, her domestic life falls into disarray: Silkwood’s boyfriend (played by Kurt Russell) leaves her and her best friend (Cher) reveals she’s in love with her. On her way to an interview with a New York Times reporter, Silkwood dies in an unexplained auto accident.
Soapbox moment: Silkwood is contaminated by plutonium. Alarms go off. She is subjected to a painful and humiliating cleansing, her nude body rubbed raw.
Legal payoff: Silkwood’s father filed a lawsuit against Kerr-McGee on behalf of Karen’s children, alleging that the company was responsible for her radiation contamination. Kerr-McGee settled the lawsuit in 1986 for $1.3 million, without actually admitting liability.
Critical payoff: Five Oscar nominations. Cher won a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe.

Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich. Photo Bob Marshak/AFP/Getty Images.

Erin Brockovich (2000)
Star: Julia Roberts
History lesson: In the early ’90s, in the small, desert town of Hinkley, California, Pacific Gas and Electric discovered that it had contaminated the town’s water supply with a highly carcinogenic substance. Residents became suspicious when the utility tried to buy up their homes at exorbitant prices. In 1992, ex-beauty queen Erin Brockovich, a clerk at a small law firm, convinced her boss to take on the residents’ suit against PG&E. A superstar L.A. firm was hired to assist with the case. The issue was settled through arbitration, with the plaintiffs (650 residents) kept out of the process.
The Hollywood version: Brockovich (Roberts), a sassy but down-on-her-luck mother of three, gets a clerking job at a law firm, where she takes it upon herself to investigate a case involving pollution in Hinkley, California. She travels to the town on her own initiative and then persuades her employer to take on the case. After much anguish, Hinkley residents come out with a $333-million award; Brockovich herself pockets $2 million.
Soapbox moment: Brockovich tells a group of careless big-city lawyers that the bottles they’re drinking from have been filled with water from the contaminated site.
Legal payoff: In 1996, PG&E settled the Hinkley case for $333 million. The lawyers received 40 per cent of the settlement; Hinkley residents were billed an additional $10 million in expenses.
Critical payoff: Five Oscar nominations. Roberts bagged an Oscar, a Golden Globe and an MTV Movie Award.

Jason McBride is a writer and editor in Toronto.