Information about Monster's Ball

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Monster's Ball
Directed by	Marc Forster
Produced by	Lee Daniels, Lions Gate Films
Written by	Milo Addica, Will Rokos
Starring	Billy Bob Thornton Halle Berry Heath Ledger Peter Boyle Sean "P. Diddy" Combs
Music by	Asche & Spencer, The Jayhawks
Distributed by	Lions Gate Films
Release date(s)	November 11, 2001
Language	English
Budget	US$4,000,000
IMDb profile

Monster's Ball is a 2001 American drama/romance film directed by Marc Forster and written by Milo Addica and Will Rokos. It was produced by Lions Gate and Lee Daniels Entertainment. The title comes from a custom in medieval England where prisoners awaiting execution were called monsters. The night before their execution, their jailers would hold a feast known as a monster's ball as their final farewell.

Plot summary

Hank Grotowski (Thornton), a widower, and his son, Sonny (Ledger) are employed as correctional officers. They reside in Georgia with Hank's ailing father, Buck (Boyle), an unwavering racist whose wife committed suicide. Buck influenced Hank's hateful attitude towards others, which resulted 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 (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 this 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 answers yes, Sonny responds, "Well, I always loved you," before shooting and killing himself. Hank subsequently buries his son, quits his job at the detention center and burns his uniform in the backyard.

During the years of Lawrence's imprisonment, his wife, Leticia Musgrove (Berry), has been struggling while raising their son, Tyrell. The boy, who inherited his father's artistic talent, is also morbidly obese. In facing these hurdles, Leticia drinks frequently and is thereby unable to pay her bills, leading to an eviction notice. In desperate need of money, Leticia becomes employed at a coffee shop frequented by Hank. One 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 for help, although no one stops to help.

Hank happens to be driving along, however, and sees Leticia cradling her mortally wounded 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 reluctantly takes the mourning Leticia home. There, the two form an unexpected bond in their collective grief. They begin an affair, 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 racial language and Hank turns his back on his father's hateful influence by sending him to a nursing home. At the end of the film, Leticia, despite having uncovered Hanks complicity 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."

Main cast

• Billy Bob Thornton … as Hank Grotowski
• Halle Berry … as Leticia Musgrove
• Heath Ledger … as Sonny Grotowski
• Peter Boyle … as Buck Grotowski
• Sean Combs … as Lawrence Musgrove
• Coronji Calhoun … as Tyrell Musgrove

Reception

Critical Reception

The film received generally positive reviews. The review website rottentomatoes.com reported that 115 out of the 137 reviews they tallied were positive. This resulted in a score of 84% and a certification of "Fresh" (as opposed to "Rotten"). ^[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 and controversy

The film won Halle Berry the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2001. Berry's role was described as breaking the stereotype of African-American women—she was not a hooker or drug addict—but in some ways it fits the mold: She was the wife of a criminal; she was emotionally damaged by his execution; she had a menial job; and she related to a new man by falling into bed with him. She was also a mother of questionable competence, whose son is morbidly obese and dies soon after he appears in the film.

Despite numerous positive reviews of the film, many African Americans were deeply split over Berry's winning the award. On websites and blogs such as SeeingBlack.com, BET.com, and EURWEB.com, along with other centers for discussion on black political and cultural issues, many expressed what they believed were underlying messages in the film.

Some black activists urge 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] Defenders of the movie claim that this is an unfair analogy, given that the "victim" in the context of the movie was a convicted murderer, and that it obscures the main point of the movie: that people are capable to rise above the mistakes and troubles of the past in favor of love and understanding.

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?"^[4] 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.

Many critics also argued that Berry's nude scene perpetuated the "Jezebel" stereotype which generally portrays black women as ferocious and lewd, with an appetite for sexual encounters, portrayed by the animalistic and raw quality of the sex scene and its racial context.^[5]

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.

Awards/Nominations

• Academy Awards
• Best Actress in a Leading Role: (Halle Berry) Winner
• Best Original Screenplay: (Milo Addica) & (Will Rokos) Nominated
• BAFTA Awards
• Best Actress: (Halle Berry) Nominated
• Black Reel Awards
• Best Actress: (Halle Berry) Winner
• Golden Globes
• Best Actress in a Drama: (Halle Berry) Nominated
• MTV Movie Awards
• Best Female Performance: (Halle Berry) Nominated
• National Board of Review
• Best Actor: (Billy Bob Thorton) Winner
• Best Actress: (Halle Berry) Winner
• Screen Actors Guild Awards
• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role: (Halle Berry) Winner

References

External links

• Monster's Ball at Rotten Tomatoes
• Monster's Ball at Box Office Mojo
• review of Monster's Ball by cosmopolis.ch
• article by Uju Asika in Salon.com, regarding the response to Monster's Ball and Berry's Oscar.
• Article describing the Angela Bassett] interview in Newsweek]
• Interview with Halle Berry regarding her performance as Leticia Musgrove