Monster's Ball

Monster's Ball, 2001
Monster's Ball



I knew before even watching this movie it was going to be a little dark and kind of heavy. It was another movie that I had planned to watch on the road back from Ohio, but I just wasn't able to bring myself to watch what already felt like such a heavy movie.

I also thought even before watching the movie that it was going to be pretty heavy and deal a lot with racial tones, which I find to be a bit exhausting.

After having watched the movie:
(Possible spoilers below)

I kind of expected a lot from Halle Berry in the movie, because she won that year, and I don't know if I really got what I had expected. I mean, once it was realized and then publicized that Halle could be the first African-American woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress, we all knew she would win. Thankfully Halle did her best to look absolutely amazing that night, the dress she wore is one of my favorite dresses ever worn to the award show.

The movie is dark. There aren't a lot of truly happy moments and aside from politics Halle Barry won for being able to be dramatic without being incredibly annoying. Which sounds like a dig, but is really a compliment. While I don't think Drama is as difficult as Comedy I think it's hard enough to pull off a Drama without being too over the top. I thought Halle Barry was able to reign things in enough when necessary and at the same time she let us see how her character struggled through one tragedy after another.

Although I have to call shenanigans on the character played by Billy Bob Thorton, because I just don't buy that the racist, abusive man is the same person Halle Berry ends up with at the end of the movie. That character arch felt rushed and faked. I don't think someone who seems as racist as Billy Bob Thorton could change his entire perspective after taking Halle and her son to the hospital and being there when her son died. Yeah, his son died too, but I'm sorry, strange situations like this happen on rare occasion and I don't think it's enough to change someone so completely.

Final thoughts: It would have preferred to have seen a little happiness somewhere in the movie, but I understand what makes this movie great is that it lacks this happiness. It doesn't leave me feeling like I can take on the world's problems, but it makes me grateful for the things that have gone right for me.

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