Movies with a Message

This fall, Hollywood is combining issues movies with campaigns designed to get people active.

•North Country, opening Friday, stars Charlize Theron in a fictionalized account of female workers in a Minnesota coal mine who used a class-action lawsuit to fight brutality from male co-workers. Its website (www.participate.net) shows how to start anti-harassment campaigns in schools and advises parents on raising "caring men."

•Good Night, and Good Luck, in theaters, is George Clooney's McCarthyism drama about the media's power to expose government abuse of power. It also has a tie-in at participate.net; users are invited to report stories from their area that the media have ignored.

•Emmanuel's Gift, in select theaters Friday, is a documentary narrated by Oprah Winfrey about a Ghanaian man with a withered leg who rides a bicycle across his country to change attitudes about disability. The movie website directs users to donate to the Challenged Athlete's Foundation, www.challengedathletes.org.

•After Innocence, a documentary opening in New York Friday, features people wrongly convicted of crimes. The movie invites viewers to join campaigns to support the exonerated through www.activevoice.net.

The direct effort to organize fans sets these movies apart from issue films such as Norma Rae and Erin Brockovich.