Secrets of the City

Good or bad, I’m already dreading the calls from relatives and friends..

So they really talk like that up there!?!

It’s 1996 all over again

damn tough and damn good. i haven’t seen a movie that has sustained that level of emotional engagement for an entire 2 hours for a long time.

I liked it. This is a side of Minnesota I was only mildly familiar with. Personally, I know The Range more for skiing at Giant’s Ridge than for the mining. Charlize Theron was awesome. She’s one actress who can really draw me into the character she’s playing. Much better than George Bush playing himself in Fahrenheit 9/11.

John Hinderaker of Power Line Blog wrote a review about the movie without actually watching it. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t think it’s worth seeing, but who bases their opinion on the the opinion of someone who hasn’t seen a movie? Roger Ebert should try that some time.

I thought it was very well done. As spaceman said, “damn tough and damn good.” There was some stuff that was pretty hard to watch, but it didn’t ever feel like the filmmakers were just trying to exploit the viewer’s emotions. Felt very honest. There was a lot of talk before release that it was a balanced look, illustrating how the miners were just upset because the women were taking already-scarce jobs… That was certainly mentioned once or twice but I didn’t feel like the movie actually emphasized it all that much. Nonetheless, it was a movie that dealt with a a pretty difficult episode in the state’s history (and the range’s) without preaching. I’d say it’s definitely worth seeing.

Monday night at ten on WCCO-TV, I have a story with Lois Jenson– the Minnesota miner who filed that sexual harrasment class action lawsuit. Charlize Theron’s character is a composite of Lois and other women… but Lois made history. It’s an interesting interview– and I’m hoping to post the whole thing on our website.

to expand on ed’s comments on the Powerline review: Mr. Hinderaker bashes the movie for not being factual, and says,
“I happen to know something about that case” by stating, “The real Jenson case was filed in 1985″, which is wrong. It wasn’t filed in court requesting class action status until 1988.

Hinderaker’s overall point that the Hill/Thomas case couldn’t have inspired the initial filing in the Jensen mining case is accurate. However, the Jensen case was certified a class action in December 1991 — two months after Anita Hill testified — and the women of the mine certainly were touched by the palpable buzz surrounding the Hill case.

I just saw it today. A big applause for Loise Jonsen and all the women who withstood the crap we men are sometimes caplble of doing. Im not gay. But when I see things like these it makes me shout power to the women. If it were the other way around and men were the ones being humilliated Id say power to the men too, but Im getting off subject now.

Charlize Theron definitely needs a big applause too and Frances McDermont for playing those who suffered to help that town’s and the States, economy. To the guys that harass women out there, be ashamed.