Home > Drama >

Monster's Ball

Watch Now

Monster's Ball (2001)

November. 11,2001
|
7.1
|
R
| Drama Romance
Watch Now

A prison guard begins a tentative romance with the unsuspecting widow of a man whose execution he presided over.

...

Watch Trailer

Cast

Similar titles

Reviews

Bereamic
2001/11/11

Awesome Movie

More
Dotbankey
2001/11/12

A lot of fun.

More
Taraparain
2001/11/13

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

More
Lidia Draper
2001/11/14

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

More
iamnotbatman-91542
2001/11/15

The movie is basically a f**k you to all the black people out there. It basically portrays a racist white man as a noble hearted gentleman who saves a black women from the rotting life she is stuck in.I don't mind the love story but it doesn't have a basis for it to form in the world,it all just happens because the women is vulnerable and ready to fall into the racist man's arms. I truly wanted to vomit after watching this propagandist bullshit.

More
TonyMontana96
2001/11/16

(Originally reviewed: 17/03/2017) A picture that is elevated by the strength of its lead performances, Thornton play's it quiet so Halle Berry can take centre stage and deliver an emotional powerhouse of a performance. Despite one or two problems like the build up to a character's death that has little to no reasoning behind it that expects us to believe that 'because his father did not like him', he got depressed and shot himself; which is something that I just found rather unbelievable and another sequence where a child dies, and the hospital staff have a lack of respect during the situation; in which looked like one woman was smirking when Berry started crying; but other than these scenes; the picture does work, having plenty of assertive dialogue, looking adequate; cinematography and location wise and a last half an hour that is truly impressive. Halle Berry (Leticia) the widower of the executed killer give's perhaps her best performance to date, as an emotionally out of control woman, that's losing her house, has lost her husband and is poised to pull extra shift's at work to be able to cope with her son; and I really wanted her character to end up happy in the end, because here was a woman with a lot of personality and likability. The prison guard Hank is played by Billy Bob Thornton and despite being racist in the beginning, and mean, you see him develop into a calmer, more helpful kind of person that is giving lift's to Berry and helping out coloured neighbours, it was a revelation to see him change his ways, and a pleasure to see the story unfold. Among the supporting cast are Heath ledger, who is very good as his son (Sonny), and Peter Boyle as Hank's nasty, racist father who is barely even able to walk to the kitchen and also mean spirited right down to his core but played well by Boyle.The picture has some melodramatics, but there carefully done, and personally I found the story compelling and very interesting, there's some scenes that are rather better than other's but the screenplay from Milo Addica and Will Rokos is a triumph with an unconventional conclusion that see's two character's sitting down looking to the future, despite Berry's character knowing full well Thornton's secret, and seeing what she will do after finding out was always going to be predictable but somehow it wasn't, it was something surprising. Just like the racist tone of the film, it's not heavy, it's more minor with bursts of racism, and I for one found this serious, skilfully crafted story well worth my time; Forster's direction is impressive, there's a nice, realistic sex scene between Berry and Thornton and the performances are something special. All in all this is a very good drama that's never boring, paced adequately and has a more than satisfying conclusion.

More
roland-scialom
2001/11/17

I think that an important aspect of this story is the fact that two ordinary characters, Hank and Leticia, who went through dramatic and tragic life experiences, and who live in a place where racism get apart persons of different ethnicities, are capable of developing a true love between them. Hank is a guy who worked all his life as a prison guard. His son who was also a prison guard is murdered. Leticia is a woman who works as a waiter in a café. Her husband was executed in the prison where Hank worked and her beloved son dies in consequence of having being hit by a car. They live in a place where racism is alive and where Hank's father is an example of this nasty culture. I would say that this film is much stronger and human than "Un Homme Et Une Femme" of Claude Lelouch. So much stronger, that there was no need of a musical sound track like that beautiful song of Francis Lai. In time, I don't know if the sex scenes were really necessary, or if they could have been filmed in a different way, less explicit.

More
chrissyt1986
2001/11/18

Iv just finished watching this film and it left me SO disappointed as I had really high expectations.First off Halle Berry is brilliant in the movie and you really buy into her character and her emotions and heart-break, she's effortless in what appears to be her comfort zone. Billy Bob Thornton is brilliant in the movie also, I've not seen him in a lot of movies but based on this I have become a fan, he's very convincing and again effortless. My problem with this movie is that it failed to be compelling and the story seemed rushed. The movie is very dreary and depressing, it plods along, the story lacks any real depth, there's no outstanding part in the film that makes you sit up and take notice. They infamous sex scene made the film no better and felt un-justified especially the long length of time it was on, a talented actress like Halle Berry lowering herself to do something like that made me cringe in all honesty. They could have made it shorter or cut away after they started they initial moves. The oral sex scene again felt totally un-necessary and just took away from the drama and emotion in the film.I found myself relieved when it ended after a very weak ending that left me wondering why I wasted my time watching the movie, damn high expectations! Did Halle deserve an Oscar, I personally don't think so, she was very good but not outstanding she was in her comfort zone and didn't really push herself to an Oscar worthy performance. She played the role by numbers nothing more, nothing less a thousand other actresses could have played the part, it wasn't a stretch for her in anyway in my opinion.

More