Review of Monster's Ball (2001) by Laura P — 12 Mar 2008

MONSTER'S BALL (2001).

Directed by Marc Forster.

Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Heath LedgerMonster's Ball is trying to deal with many themes, racism among them and grief. Its about a black woman who loses her child and a man who sees his own son shoot himself, they both begin an understanding relationship and slowly, it becomes more.This film is shot in a very realistic way by director Marc Forster, and sometimes even too realistic, bringing some complaints from lots of people, especially about the graphic sex scene between the two protagonists. Of course that scene is very useful to show how vulnerable the characters are and to keep the movie in the same tone as it was from the beginning but its also understandable why people complained about it.Mosnter's Ball is disturbing and the characters are even more disturbed by their lives. Its a good shot at reality, not sure how accurate it is about the Southern lives, but its quite accurate on the human level.Halle Berry got lucky, she gives a powerful performance, but the only one of her career, just had good material to deal with and Marc Forster directed her good. Billy Bob Thornton gives a sober performance, almost emotionless and he is quite effective as well. Heath Ledger showed a glimpse of the talent he had and later proved in Brokeback Mountain.Its highly emotional and it goes deeply into the human soul making this film hard to watch more than once. Far from entertaining, but still a good movie, but not for everyone.