Review of Monster's Ball (2001) by Eric B — 16 Oct 2008

Leticia takes her son to see his father before the man is going to be executed. We never find out what he did. The son is a young, very overweight, soft-spoken kid. What we see is that his father cares very much about him. His eyes light up when his son tells him about an insignificant accomplishment. His dad tries to squeeze in as many words of encouragement and wisdom as he can in the alloted time he has to see his son. When the time is up, his son silently walks over and hold his dad. Now, this whole time Leticia is short with her ex-husband, and shows him no love or respect. She only came because her son wanted to see him. Sure enough, the man breaks down before his execution, cries, etc. We also see him sketching Hank and Sonny in the cell he is being held in before being moved to the electric chair. Then he is electricuted in a painfully accurate scene.

What is amazing is that never during all of this did the movie seem to suggest that Capital Punnishment is "bad". The movie had so many opportunities to send that message, but never does. The execution serves as foundation for the characters of Hank and Leticia. It has a personal purpose, and not a political, and I think that is one of the most overlooked remarkable things about the movie.

And then you have Halle Berry's performance. I couldn't begin to say enough about that. There is a scene where she is sitting on a couch with Hank, talking about her son. How, oh, how did she pull that off? I don't think anyone will ever know...