Guards and Monsters

reviewed Fri, 01 Mar 2002

I suspect my father will be tempted to walk out of Monster's Ball, and right up front I want to tell him and the rest of you to have patience.  The first half of the movie is quite disagreeable, mainly extremely unpleasant people doing unpleasant things, and I was loathing the film for making me witness this nastiness.  But the mood shifts, and it becomes a moving story of a man who, if he doesn't exactly redeem himself, at least finds peace.  (I think, though, the emotional payoff wouldn't have been lessened had the film been less vile at the beginning -- be aware that, although the ending is uplifting, it's preceded by a shitload of depressing things.)

Billy Bob Thornton is terrific as Hank, a racist prison guard who administers executions in the state penitentiary.  His father (Peter Boyle in possibly the most hateful performance of the year), a retired guard, is even more repulsive.  Sonny, his son (Heath Ledger), also a guard, somehow escapes the toxic atmosphere of racial hatred in this house but still succumbs to Hank's ugly nature (I couldn't help wondering why Sonny had never moved out of that festering pit of a house).  After a tragedy, Hank begins to reevaluate his life; about this time, he meets Leticia (Halle Berry), a black waitress who's also suffered devastating calamities -- including her husband's execution by none other than Hank and Sonny (although neither of them know of this connection at first).

Their relationship progresses a little too quickly from narcotic sex (a wrenching scene, though director Mark Forster makes it more pornographic than it needs to be) to grand gestures of love from Hank.  And if you think about it, it seems unlikely that they would be together if they didn't both so desperately need someone -- anyone -- which doesn't seem like a solid basis for a lasting relationship.  But I nitpick.  I definitely recommend Monster's Ball, and Berry certainly deserves her Best Actress nomination.

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