Monster Masterpiece

Ultimately about self-realization and overcoming loss, Monster's Ball is an intricate and hauntingly realistic motion picture which develops a simple story of love into a quiet epic that transcends the film's small-town Georgia setting.

Hank (Billy Bob Thornton) is a prison guard on death row. So was his father (Peter Boyle), and so is his son (Heath Ledger). Following a tragic accident, Hank realizes that despite his aging father's dominating personality, he lacks the heart to work so close to death. Whereas Hank criticizes his son for having too much of his mother in him, Hank finds out that he too has some of his own maligned mother in him.

At the same time--seemingly in a parallel universe, thanks to Marc Foster's outstanding direction--Leticia Musgrove (Halle Berry) is turning a page in her life. Her former husband Lawrence (Sean "Puffy" Combs) recently left Hank's death row in a black bag. Living with her reckless son (Coronji Calhoun) Leticia is adrift after the husband she hated is no longer around to hate.

Following another tragic accident, similar to Hank's, Leticia finds herself in his arms--at first out of a shared need to cope. The comfort turns to passionate sex and again turns to love.

From the previews and the bare bones of the story, there are a thousand ways Monster's Ball could have gone wrong. It could have been an opus on the "evil" death penalty. It could have been a lesson about how tough interracial romance is. It could have been an absurd story that placed its ordinary antiheroes in ridiculous scenarios in order to show just how much they have changed from their former selves. To its credit, and to the credit of its screenwriters, Monster's Ball avoids all of the pitfalls that come with such weighty notions. This is most apparent in Hank--although the character markedly changes, there is no Hollywood cathartic moment--his change is a progression, a curve not a point.

Hank and Leticia are ordinary lovers with ordinary lives--the film leaves us with an extraordinary feeling. Berry (give her the damn Oscar!) and Thornton make music that challenges the audience to accept the normalcy of how the characters move on. Despite the pedestrian feel of the plot, Foster maintains a level of suspense throughout the picture. In a fashion more akin to real life than any motion picture in recent memory, Monster's Ball finds the suspense in our own lives. The film is so assured of its message and pacing that at one moment, as Hank and Leticia prepare to cross the final hurdle, Monster's Ball makes the viewer think that the film is about to take a turn for the unnatural--and when it doesn't, you may find yourself exhaling as this masterpiece effort stays its ground.