krocheav On the outset this appeared to have enough potential to be OK. By the mid-section however it becomes a little obvious the filmmakers were trying to turn it into the 2001 of racial hate movies. They start with a minimalist plot then stretch out every scene till the threadbare writing begins to show. This writer/co-producer duo (Milo Addica & William Rokos) along with German director Marc Forster come across as perhaps having been victims of child abuse or worse. Ugliness seeps from the majority of scenes like puss from a festering sore. About every Character is totally unlikable (except maybe Heath Ledger playing Thornton's son with only a brief part).If anyone hasn't seen this by now, from here there could be a few plot spoilers: Billy thingy-ma-Bob Thornton is a bigoted, violent father who HATES his own son like no other before him. Thornton's father (Boyle) hates everyone except those who hate as equally as he does! A local young black woman (Hallie Berry) whose husband is on death row shows little more than contempt towards both her husband and their sad young son (her son compulsively eats chocolate bars to sooth his unhappiness with his home situation). At no time are we told why her seemingly intelligent, artistically talented negro husband has to be executed - did he murder somebody or simply upset some red-neck townsfolk?. Character establishment is treated as unimportant because the thin plot simply works towards stringing together a series of gratuitous sex scenes - and they don't get much sleazier. Lust simply replaces shared love for sake of sensationalism and this seems to have been the main selling point. Some say it's a tale of redemption but the redemption is treated as being simply 'tacked on' - occurring almost overnight and stemming from a shocking event the supposedly 'redeemed' bigot (Thornton) even more shockingly said he was pleased about!. None of this is very convincing. It would appear the average viewer of movies today may have been reduced to mulch - otherwise how could below par product like this receive more than a passing glance?. As for Berry, she 's reduced to a mere sex object - which seems to be enough for obsessed audiences to rave about. This brings us then to the also tacked on ending - looking like it was lifted strait out of "The Misfits"...the two 'redeemed' characters sit eating chocolate ice cream from a 'specifically' requested plastic spoon (plastic seems symbolic of this movie) and gaze up at the stars looking into their assured future. Disappointing and somewhat shameful. Seems also like it may have been a rather lean year - as predictably, the academy thought it just fine. For a good overview, read beyond the promo type reviews and into the general viewer analysis.

Dalbert Pringle I loathe these "change-of-heart" movies. I really do. And Monster's Ball has got to be one of the most loathsome "change-of-heart" flicks that I've seen in a mighty long time.Take, for instance, the despicable main character in Monster's Ball - Georgia prison guard, Hank Grotowski. At present Hank is working execution detail on Death Row. What Hank is, is a really, really nasty, bitter, crybaby of an ex-cop. And if that side of Hank isn't detestable enough, then Hank's also one hell of a lousy drunk, and a mean, cussing, foul-mouthed, hateful racist, to boot. (These, of course, are all of Hank's good points.) With that firmly in mind - What bothers me here is that suddenly, like, overnight ("Presto! Change-O!") Hank does this complete about-face thing. Not only does Hank immediately stop hating Blacks, and begin treating them respectfully, but he also starts fornicating with a black woman named Leticia.And I don't care what anyone says - Nobody - I repeat - Nobody with such a deep-rooted hatred and animosity, as Hank had towards blacks, could ever possibly change so bloody fast as he did. It was a goddamn miracle. There would always be some remaining residue of hate and racism left smouldering under that cool, mild-mannered facade. It's impossible to be otherwise - We humans don't work in any other way. We don't.Now, please, don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't believe that people can change - People can and do - But this is something that takes a lot of time, many years, in fact. And, I'm sorry, but considering Hank's background; this change in him was too unrealistically abrupt for me to accept. It seemed so phony and pretentious. Since the overall essence of this flick's story was directed at "realism" Hank's instant "conversion" to black-lover ruined that effect completely.

Jay Stevens Slow, deeply unsettling and absolutely great.*may contain spoilers*I got the DVD for my recent birthday. It's an older movie, but still relevant because of the timeless story of life & death.Monster's Ball has the pace, and depressing qualities of a french drama, and is thusly loathed by the "colorful stuff exploding every minute"- crowd, hence the foaming-at-the-mouth reviews here & there.Yes, well. If One watches it to get a glimpse of Berry's "assets", yes, it's there, but there's quite a bit more to that.The basic premise of Monster's Ball is "People that lost everything, trying to get their feeling back"Both Berry and Thornton lost close relatives to rather tragic events. Their lives seem to unravel around them, and struck numb by that, they seem to be walking around in a sort of auto-pilot haze, until they, through even móre tragic events, accidentally meet.The events in question, losing their sons, the one by suicide, the other by drunk driver, makes them connect on a deeper level. The odd thing is, that there hardly seems to be any love involved in that connection, but only desperation. Desperation unloading in a first and -by American standards- rather steamy sex-scene (A good observer cannot, by the life of it, call it a "love-making" scene).It's visceral, almost a hate-f**k, a desperate attempt to regain their feeling and humanity, and as such, deeply unsettling for the watcher. It's also deeply European.Where in America the "love-making" is -as a norm- the ultimate expression of love, it's not as such in many European movies. Especially the French seem to revel in showing love and sex in a rather unsettling way, close to some kind of insanity, and -more often than not- combined with violence and death.At first I couldn't understand the emphasis on sex as a rather distant affair, like the way Thornton and a hooker go at it, and later the steamy, visceral but loveless banging Thornton and Berry demonstrate. But, after a second watching, it suddenly dawned at me :It was an attempt to escape something inescapable, hence the inter-cuts of a caged bird..From that moment on, I started to watch for more symbology, and boy! is it chock-full of it.It starts with he way Thornton gets at his job. He has to take a ferry, crossing a river to his job as a correction officer. Crossing the Styx to a Hell that hé has accepted, but that his son -Ledger- can no longer. Which, combined with the utter contempt that their racist Father and Grandfather (Boyle), has for his son ánd even more so for his grandson, leads to a very tragic outcome.Then there's Thornton's regular nightly ice-cream, which he insist on to be chocolate with a white, plastic spoon, combined with hot, black coffee.And it goes on- and on, by times it's even a bit much tbh. And yet, it's all expertly cut-together to make an utterly compelling, but somewhat depressing cocktail of simple, "normal" people that deal with an almost insurmountable lot of grieving after their lives fall apart, and who's fate drives them in each other's arms, forcing them to accept a new reality, And all of that with an undercurrent of racism that seeps through everything in the world around them.It ends on a somewhat optimistic tone, but even there, a tragic undercurrent is still very much apparent.The acting of the cast is absolutely top-notch. They all flex their acting-muscles with gusto (even Berry. Remember that she once got a raspberry-award, and showed-up in person to collect it, thereby stealing the hearts of the crowd). Boyle's expert portrayal of Hank Grotowsky's shockingly racist Dad, even made me actively loathe a character. And, tbh, áll characters, except maybe for Ledger's Sonny Grotowski, are somewhat unpleasant by times. Which is a good thing! Daring too. The whole affair was shot for a meager $4,000,000.- $1,000,000.- of it for Berry to drop her undies (or so it's said. I dunno). The director, his hands tied by the tiny budget, was as such forced to use all kinds of locally available assets. No fancy sets, no fancy props, no nuttin' and as a collateral, it makes for an utterly believable "mise-en scène" and authenticity, which -in turn- makes it look more like an unsettling documentary, in a way. The minimalist music also supports that feeling of "watching a slice of reality".All in all, I liked it very much. The calm pace gives the viewer ample time to ponder the things the director tries to tell. And after the end- credits One is left thinking about it all for quite some time.9/10 (-1 for the sometimes too thick layer of symbolism)

Nikki Dawes I thought this movie was incredible. Anyone going through a difficult time in their life can relate to this movie. One part of this movie touched me to the core, and I literally sobbed hysterically for half an hour during the movie. The acting in this movie is so raw, and powerful and just so true to real life. You actually will leave watching this movie with a sense of culture you didn't have before. Though not perfect the movie soars past any flaws, and truly rises above any movie I've seen in a while. Profound movie well worth watching again. Though definitely not for children, I think it's a movie i would want my kids to see when they get older. An amazing movie for sure, I truly loved this incredible piece of work with amazing actors.