Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

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.

seymourblack-1 Capital punishment, racism and abusive parents feature strongly in this story about the healing power of love and its great ability to grow in even the most unlikely circumstances. The mood is often sombre and the characters' feelings of despair, grief and regret are profound. Despite all of this, the hope and comfort that unexpected love can bring is ultimately shown as being able to point the way to hope and optimism for the future. In the wrong hands, a story like this could easily have developed into a melodramatic slush-fest but fortunately in this case, the movie was directed more intelligently with uncompromising depictions of its characters and the romantic developments being presented without sentimentality.Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton) is a Georgia prison Corrections Officer who's responsible for supervising the arrangements leading up to the execution of convicted cop-killer Lawrence Musgrove (Sean Combs). Hank's team includes his son, Sonny (Heath Ledger) and on the day of the execution, when the prisoner is being led to the electric chair, Sonny becomes overwhelmed by what's happening, starts vomiting and has to break off from the detail to recover. After the execution has been carried out, Hank violently attacks his son in front of the other men in his team and then when they return home, a second attack concludes with Sonny killing himself. Hank had always hated his son for being weak and after his suicide, swiftly buries him and then resigns from his job.Hank lives with his white racist father, Buck (Peter Boyle) who's a retired Corrections Officer and a wheelchair-bound invalid. His wife had committed suicide some years earlier.Leticia Musgrove (Halle Berry) had worked hard to bring up her son Tyrell (Coronji Calhoun) during the eleven years that her husband Lawrence had been on death row awaiting the outcomes of various appeals but now, after his execution, had arrived at a real low-point facing the prospect of losing her car, her job and her house. Tyrell had inherited his father's talent for drawing but gets beaten and verbally abused by his mother because she's disgusted by his obesity. One night, Hank is driving along a stretch of road when he sees Leticia screaming for help and after discovering that Tyrell had been injured by a hit-and-run driver, takes the boy and his mother to the nearest hospital. A short time later, Tyrell dies and afterwards, Hank drives Leticia home not realising that this would lead to a relationship that would bring them both a great deal of comfort and start to make them feel human again."Monster's Ball" doesn't pull any punches in showing the pain that people in dysfunctional families can suffer or the damaging effects that a bigoted, bullying, patriarch can have on the lives of his offspring. Hank's experience of being brought up by Buck had naturally led to him becoming a racist and regarding anyone who's sensitive as being weak. The potential for this kind of attitude to continually be passed from father to son is extremely powerful and damaging and so, it's particularly ironic that in Hank's case, after suffering a dreadful tragedy in his life, he should find comfort in a relationship with a black woman whose life had also been blighted by tragedy.When Hank and Leticia meet for the first time, they don't know that they're connected by Lawrence's execution and the ways in which they both discover this information at different times and reconcile themselves to the situation, is both very powerful and brilliantly acted."Monster's Ball" is full of good performances with Peter Boyle and Heath Ledger standing out in their supporting roles. The casting of Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry in the leading roles is also perfect as they both make their characters believable as individuals as well as showing, in a very natural way, how well they get to appreciate each other's company. This movie is strong on simplicity and realism and it's these qualities that contribute so much to its incredible power and poignancy.

Python Hyena Monster's Ball (2001): Dir: Marc Forster / Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Heath Ledger, Peter Boyle, Sean Combs: Powerful film about racism and redemption. Title regards lifestyle and attitudes of three generations of racial prison guards. Billy Bob Thornton portrays such a guard whose father was an even bigger racist. His son befriends a black inmate on death row and he wretches at the execution. Thornton assaults him in a washroom leading to a shocking sequence where he takes his own life. Halle Berry plays the widow of the inmate whose son is struck by a car. Thornton assists her and is soon drawn in attraction. It isn't known why Thornton helps her but judging from the amount of sex it was probably lust. Unsatisfactory conclusion aided by Marc Foster's directing and top notch acting. Thornton wrestles with his past and upbringing. Berry is flawless as a waitress who is harsh to her overweight son. Heath Ledger plays his son who shows compassion towards those whom he was raised to hate. This puts him in conflict with his family. Peter Boyle is icy as Thornton's crippled and hateful father whose nature is perhaps the darkest element of the film. Sean Combs is effectively in a brief role as a criminal who is executed early on. The film focuses on hopes that society will veer away from the immoral celebration of racism. Score: 8 / 10

hello bye this was a wonderful heart filled movie very realistic and deals with real life and racism especially for the south. billy bob, Halle Berry Dark melodrama about the strange intersection of racism and emotional need. billy turns from a racist redneck, scaring his son's black friends off his property with a gun to getting a black girl and loving one and (Halle Berry's 10-minute soft(not so soft teehee) porn scene for "art's sake") The acting in "Monster's Ball" isn't really acting. It transcends that definition. The characters seem real, and their situations seem real. As for the infamous, gratuitous sex scene - yes, it was a little unnecessary. But overall, this film is great one last note the south needs to wake up like Billy's character we are all the same its rich vs poor not black vs white :)jesus was killed for being black lets stop the hate and learn the truth. AMEN - ヅ ツ ッ シ *and to the people that rate it under 4 stars they just morons and don't understand it and the meaning of the lovely story wounder why they watch WWE and think its real and there in there 30-50s lmao if u over 15 and watch that yea prob don't have common sense nor a sex life booyah ya just got owned * :O