Jamie passion and passionfruit!

Another message movie.  This time the fight against sexual harassment by a group of women mine workers in Minnesota in the early 90’s.  Of course, the divine Charlize Theron is the lead character and not some plain butch mine worker.  Good for cinemagoers but a point off for authenticity.  Just like Julia Roberts as Erin Brokovich.  Theron acts very well and it is a great part.  She is very ably supported by Frances McDormand as Glory, a union rep and then sufferer of a fatal illness, Sissy Spacek, Woody Harrelson, Sean Bean and Richard Jenkins.  No problems with the acting then.  Nicki Caro’s direction is fine within a certain Hollywood pattern and Chris Menges (photography) and Gustavo Santaolalla (music) do good stuff.  But somewhere something is missing.  Perhaps it is the rather cliched screenplay or the almost overly exaggerated bad guys portayal of the male miners.  What they do and the relentless bad language and bad behaviour is surely authentic but it gets to be too one-sided when it is served up constantly.  I don’t know.  Again, the hearts of the filmmakers are in the right place and it is all easy to follow but I felt that it came closer to cliche and to telemovie at times when other films like Norma Rae have covered similar ground in a more earthy way.  So, congrats to the girls for the Oscar nominations and I hope Caro finds something slightly more offbeat to do next time.

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