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Monster's Ball

Monster’s Ball is a term I never heard before I saw this video. I researched and found it means: "the condemned man’s last day."

Marc Forster directed the movie, and I think it’s interesting that the story isn’t from a novel, but is an original screenplay by Mila Addica and Will Rokos. It should be considered a classic in screenplays.

I will tell you this is a gloomy movie. I normally don’t like gloom. But hey, the two actors, Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry, who play the hero and heroine, are so riveting I had to watch it.

If you like mysteries, this is a type of mystery because it’s intriguing and makes you want to find out more, and perhaps solve the mystery.

I didn’t solve the mystery, but it made me think afterwards. That’s a good thing sometimes...for me anyway.

The hero, Hank (Billy Bob Thornton), through his tragedy meets Leticia (Halle Berry), a black woman trying to live through her tragedy. Hank comes from a long line of racists. He lives with his mean and sick old father, Buck (Peter Boyle), a retired corrections officer, and his wimpy son, Sonny (Heath Ledger), who also works as a corrections officer with his father, Hank. It’s a racist household of men, who all continue the tradition of being corrections officers.

This story takes place in contemporary times, but it seems the times haven’t changed as much as they really have. These men just keep plodding along.

Leticia has a husband, Lawrence (Sean Combs), who is on death row, and a young son, Tyrell (Cornji Calhoun), who has a weight problem. His mother is screwed up, and you get the feeling she’s been on that course for a while.

On Lawrence’s last day, he draws Sonny’s portrait. As Lawrence sketches, he says something significant. He says a sketch of a man’s face divulges much more than any photograph. A drawing reveals the real man.

Catastrophies bring the heroine and hero together (dubious terms for each of them), you might say, in their hour of need. It’s hard to believe without these fatalities Hank and Leticia would never meet. When Hank and Leticia do find each other, of course, you just know something is going to happen. What and for how long, and what can they say to one another is not known though.

This is not your typical love story. These two people are ill matched. Or are they?

The acting is superb by all, especially by Berry who won the Academy Award for Best Actress, the first by an African American woman ever. Her portrayal of this unusual woman was gritty and unnerving to the point of sheer realism, which was crucial for the movie to work, which it did.

Written by: Judith Fox

Reviewers Rating: 9
Reader's Rating: 7.14
Reader's Votes: 7

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