Main Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Heath Ledger, Halle Berry, Peter Boyle, Sean Combs
Release Year: 2001
Run Time: 111 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Director Marc Forster, winner of Best Feature at Slamdance for his debut film Loungers (1996) and the "Someone to Watch" Independent Spirit Award for his indie drama Everything Put Together (2000), follows up those acclaimed projects with this intense, racially charged romance. Billy Bob Thornton stars as Georgia prison guard Hank Grotowski, a hard-drinking racist ex-cop whose father, Buck (Peter Boyle), is dying of emphysema and whose son, Sonny (Heath Ledger), works the execution detail at the prison's death row. When Sonny commits suicide, Hank is devastated and quits his job, spiraling into a deep depression until, one night, he comes to the aid of Leticia (Halle Berry), a beautiful African-American woman whose son, Tyrell (Coronji Calhoun), has been hit by a car. When Tyrell dies, Leticia and Hank find themselves to be unexpected soul mates linked together by tragic grief. It's not long before Hank discovers that Leticia is the widow of Lawrence Musgrove (Sean Combs), the man whose execution by electric chair he and his late son helped to orchestrate. Monster's Ball (2001) is based on a screenplay by actors Milo Addica and Will Rokos, who spent five years developing their script into a feature. Their title refers to the name of an English tradition requiring jailers to throw a party for a condemned man on the night before his death. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Review
For the first time since Losing Isaiah in 1995, Halle Berry steps into a role she's shown reluctance to play: a working-class woman of limited intelligence and refinement, who speaks with a dialect and vocabulary that invokes cruel stereotypes. In the dreadful comedy B.A.P.S. and the wicked satire Bulworth, she offered spoofing variations on that character type, but only here does she stare it down. The result is not only the performance of her career, but one of the best onscreen in 2001. The stratospheric praise given her work led some critics to honor the rest of Monster's Ball with equal vigor, but the film is more a collection of great parts than a complete whole. It's certainly full of incendiary moments; surprising deaths blend into lurid and uncomfortable sex scenes, then into vitriolic bursts of racism, all with a disaffected resignation that's bracing. But one wishes director Marc Forster and screenwriters Milo Addica and Will Rokos would have extracted more of a discernible message from these isolated pockets of pain and rage. The minimalism of their approach leaves many questions. The viewer never learns, for example, why Billy Bob Thornton's corrections officer despises his son (Heath Ledger), which might have explained more of both characters' actions. As an actor-driven work, however, Monster's Ball crackles. Sean Combs shows unexpected depth and dignity as the doomed inmate, and Thornton offers another portrayal of wordless hurt that nicely complements his work in The Man Who Wasn't There. Peter Boyle, returning to the big screen after a three-year absence, personifies the bull-headedness endemic to racism in the South. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Mos Def - Ryrus Cooper; Will Rokos - Warden Velasco; Milo Addica - Tommy Roulaine; Coronji Calhoun - Tyrell Musgrove; Charles Cowan Jr. - Willie Cooper; Taylor LaGrange - Darryl Cooper
Credit
Leonard Spears - Art Director, Kerry Barden - Casting, Billy Hopkins - Casting, Suzanne Smith - Casting, Mark Bennett - Casting, Will Rokos - Co-producer, Milo Addica - Co-producer, Eric Kopeloff - Co-producer, Frank Fleming - Costume Designer, Michael Lerman - First Assistant Director, Marc Forster - Director, Matt Chessé - Editor, Michael Burns - Executive Producer, Michael Paseornek - Executive Producer, Mark Urman - Executive Producer, Asche & Spencer - Composer (Music Score), Monroe Kelly - Production Designer, Roberto Schaefer - Cinematographer, Lee Daniels - Producer, Jeff Pullman - Sound/Sound Designer, Michael Kamper - Sound/Sound Designer, Will Rokos - Screenwriter, Milo Addica - Screenwriter, Francis James - Additional Cinematography
In developing a musical concept for his first feature film, director Marc Forster opted for an approach that could be described (after its most visible practitioner) as the Thomas Newman aesthetic. This school of thought maintains that film music can enhance drama, add texture, and underline meaning, but it should never, ever tell the audience how to feel. The score for Monster's Ball, composed by the ambient band Asche and Spencer, adheres to that philosophy by making extremely sparing use of melody. Through much of the movie, music slides by mysteriously without drawing much attention to itself. The instrumentation is sparse -- primarily electric guitar, keyboard, bass, and marimba -- and geographically ambiguous. The score's three composers (Thad Spencer, Chris Beatty, and Richard Werbowenko) could have attempted to establish the film's Southern small-town setting by loading up on pedal steel. (That task is left to country & western pop songs by the Jayhawks, Red Meat, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.) Or they could have emphasized the film's tragic events with dramatic, swelling strings. Instead, Asche and Spencer focus strictly on the muddier emotional journey of the narrative. When Billy Bob Thornton's character mourns the suicide of his son, the score is just as withdrawn and distant as the actor's performance. The music doesn't grieve, it doesn't tug at heartstrings. The guitar strokes are soft and reflective, but impassive -- the piece could legitimately be seen as either bleak or hopeful. Only in the final scene, as the story reaches resolution, does the ethereal noodling expand gradually and gracefully into melody. The game is over and the storytellers finally tip their emotional hand. But gently and thoughtfully; not so much manipulating as reflecting the emotions of the audience. ~ Evan Cater, All Music Guide
Jimmie Dale Gilmore (Performer), The Jayhawks (Performer), Tom Scott (Keyboards), Tom Scott (Marimba), Tom Scott (Ukulele), Jim Anton (Bass), Tommy Barbarella (Fender Rhodes), Jean Wells (Performer), Thad Spencer (Percussion), Thad Spencer (Drums), Thad Spencer (Marimba), Thad Spencer (Producer), Bob DeMaa (Mastering), Bob DeMaa (Mixing), Red Meat (Performer), Greg Herzenach (Guitar), Greg Herzenach (Keyboards), Joe Savage (Pedal Steel), Chris Beaty (Guitar), Chris Beaty (Piano), Chris Beaty (Guitar (Bass)), Chris Beaty (Keyboards), Chris Beaty (Marimba)
Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton), a widower, and his son, Sonny (Heath Ledger), are correctional officers in the local prison. They reside in Louisiana with Hank's ailing father, Buck (Peter Boyle), an unwavering racist whose wife had committed suicide. Hank's hateful attitude towards others, strongly influenced by his father Buck, results in Hank's hatred of his father, his son, and members of the neighboring community.
As Hank and Sonny assist in the execution of convicted murderer Lawrence Musgrove (Sean Combs), the proceedings prove too intense for Sonny, who begins to vomit as he is leading Lawrence to the electric chair. Hank humiliates Sonny for his perceived weakness and hits him. Unable to cope with the estrangement, Sonny lashes out at his father, armed with a revolver. The confrontation ends in their living room with Hank at gunpoint, lying on the carpet, and Sonny in his grandfather's customary chair. Sonny asks his father, "You hate me, don't you?" After his father calmly confirms that he does and says he always has, Sonny responds, "Well, I always loved you," before shooting and killing himself. Hank subsequently buries his son, quits his job at the prison, and burns his uniform in the backyard.
During the years of Lawrence's imprisonment, his wife, Leticia Musgrove (Halle Berry), has been struggling while raising their son, Tyrell (Coronji Calhoun). The boy, who inherited his father's artistic talent, is also morbidly obese. Along with her domestic problems, she also struggles financially, leading to the loss of the family car and more seriously, an eviction notice on her house. In desperate need of money, Leticia becomes employed at a diner frequented by Hank. One rainy night, Leticia and Tyrell are walking down a rain-soaked highway when the boy is struck by a car. Leticia is left helpless on the side of the road, grasping her son and calling out to passing motorists, although no one stops to help.
Hank happens to be driving along, however, and sees Leticia, cradling her mortally injured son. He initially drives by as well, but eventually goes back to pick them up, driving them to a hospital. Tyrell dies upon arrival, and Hank lends his shoulder for Leticia to cry on. They find a lot in common, as they both lost sons they abused and spouses they never really loved. That night, they drown their grief with alcohol and have intercourse. They begin a relationship, which is initially based on sex and relief from loneliness but later becomes emotionally supportive. Hank finds out that Leticia is Lawrence's widow, but he does not tell her that he participated in her husband's execution.
Buck insults Leticia, using strong racist language; Hank turns his back on his father's hateful influence by sending him to a nursing home. Leticia, despite having uncovered Hank's involvement in her husband's death, decides to stay with him. As they sit on the porch and gaze up at the stars, he says, "We're going to be all right."
The film received generally positive reviews. The review website rottentomatoes.com reported that 120 out of the 140 reviews they tallied were positive. This resulted in a score of 86% and a certification of "Fresh".[1] Roger Ebert gave the film four stars and stated that, "The movie has the complexity of great fiction"[2] listing it as the best film of 2001.
Acclaim was also given to Coronji Calhoun, who was chosen from an open casting call and was paid the minimum union scale for his work as Tyrell Musgrove, the ill-fated son of Lawrence and Leticia. "Perhaps one of the most affecting performances of the year was given by a 10-year-old Louisiana fourth-grader who has never acted before or studied the craft," commented Variety reporter Christopher Grove.
Despite numerous positive reviews of the film, some black activists urged a boycott, notably Miles Willis of the "Milestones" jazz program on Pacifica Radio's KPFT. His statement, championed by syndicated film columnist Esther Iverem, included the following: "Imagine the seething indignation that a Jewish man might feel while watching a story in which the widow of a Nazi concentration camp victim has an intimate relationship with the SS officer that shoved her husband into one of those ovens at Auschwitz!"[3]
Esther Iverem, SeeingBlack.com editor and film critic, stated that "you have to wonder if this is what it takes for a black woman to be named best actress … Who was the last "best actress" who did a nude sex scene?" (The answer was Gwyneth Paltrow, three years previously.) Iverem went on to say, "Ultimately, Monster's Ball uses the legacy of racism in an unconvincing manner to belittle its impact, and its historical and present-day consequences." Iverem maintained that scores of black men were boycotting the film.[4]
