Written by Milo Addica and Will Rokos, under the direction of Marc Forster, Monster’s Ball is a film in which the characters seem to jump off the screen and draw us in to their difficult lives right from the start. Forster uses a slow, mournful tone that accentuates the sorrow in all the characters, without overplaying the emotions. In their first screenplay, writers Milo Addica and Will Rokos have crafted a small, character driven drama, filled with unforgettable moments through facial expression and dialogue. Every scene is intense, nearly every moment gripping.
Watching the film again seven years after its theatrical release, it is easy to see why Halle Berry won a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Leticia Musgrove. In my mind, Monster’s Ball stands as her finest big screen performance to date.
Near the beginning of Monster’s Ball, 12-year-old Tyrell Musgrove (Coronji Calhoun) visits his father on death row. Lawrence (Sean Combs) is scheduled to die that night. Tyrell asks why. “Because I’m a bad man,” his father tells him, gazing steadily into his son’s devastated face. “I want you to know something,” Lawrence says, leaning forward. “You ain’t me. You’re the best of what I am, that’s what you are.” Lawrence’s wife, Leticia (Halle Berry) is emotionless. She moves from the barred window where she’s been standing, trying not to see this poignant father-son scene. As she sits next to Tyrell, her cigarette smoke rises slowly. She just can’t warm up to Lawrence, even with her boy watching and hoping. After 11 years of visiting her man in a cell, she’s ready for an ending.
Leticia is tired. Everybody in this tangled story is tired, but Lawrence’s execution doesn’t mark and end to the story, instead it opens up a new chapter of pain. Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton) is a prison guard at the Georgia facility where Lawrence will be executed later that night. His emphysema riddled father Buck (Peter Boyle) who lives with him, is retired prison guard and devout racist. Hank shares his father’s racist views, but in a decidedly less vehement fashion. Hank’s son Sonny (Heath Ledger) works with his father, but unlike his elders has a more compassionate opinion of others. Both of the older men disdainfully ignore his compassion as being a side effect of having “too much of his mother in him. On this day, Hank and Sonny are preparing for the execution of Lawrence Musgrove. The execution goes on with only one hitch: Sonny gets sick during Lawrence’s last walk.
This indignity pushes Hank over the edge: “You’re like a goddamn woman! You’re like your fucking mother!” At the same time, Leticia begins lashing out at her son for being overweight. In his obesity, Leticia sees in Tyrell a lack of control that reminds her of her now dead husband. In anger and frustration, she beats him. “I know,” she says moments later with regret and concern, “that if you’re a black man in America, you can’t be like that.”
Understandably, Leticia is a mess. She drinks too much and sees herself as a loser when she is dealt an eviction notice. After one of many tragedies for Leticia and Hank after the execution, the two find themselves thrown together out of desperate need, rather than true affection. The characters in Monster’s Ball are looking for release. “Make me feel good!” cries Leticia. It’s a momentary thing. Hank and Leticia never truly feel good, but they do feel better. In each other, they discover something that, in its own way, is more potent than mere love: comfort. When they are together, they don’t hurt as much or as often.
There are two sex scenes between Hank and Leticia. The first, which is the more graphic of the two, is so raw and intense that it is more likely to disturb than to arouse. These individuals are using one another to assuage guilt and pain; it’s an outpouring of need and grief. There’s no kissing, just sweaty physical contact. By the time the second encounter occurs, Hank and Leticia have developed a bond. There are hints of tenderness and affection in their relationship. However, the movie still has one more obstacle to throw in our path, and many unanswered questions to pose.
Monster’s Ball doesn’t get any easier to watch with repeated viewings. The story is raw and bruising. Watching Leticia and Hank’s story is like going on an endless roller coaster, because even the end doesn’t tell viewers if these two people have truly found the safety and comfort they both so desperately need.
Wow. Lionsgate has done a tremendous job with this Blu-ray. The 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is a transfer that holds its own amongst other similarly-toned BD releases on the market. Don’t get me wrong, Monster’s Ball isn’t a pretty flick by any stretch of the imagination. Its under saturated primary colors, pale skin tones, and occasionally monochromatic palette are meant to evoke loneliness and isolation rather than beauty and awe. However, the Blu-ray edition boasts such stable colors, crystal clear fine details, sharp textures, and increased image clarity, that the standard DVD looks like a VHS tape by comparison. To top off the transformation, the high-def transfer doesn’t suffer from any significant artifacting, banding, crush, or edge enhancement.
The lossless DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track featured on this release is an impressive demonstration of proper sound design. Dialogue is crisp, clear, and nicely prioritized, the film’s moody score envelops the listener from every direction, and the rear channels inject realistic ambience and convincing interior acoustics into an otherwise quiet mix. Better still, pans are exceedingly transparent, directionality is natural and precise. Its subtle sonics enhance the tone of the story and highlights the feeling of sadness and hopelessness that populates the story.
The special features begin with a Audio Commentary featuring Director Marc Forster and screenwriters Milo Addica and Will Rokos. This was done before the 2003 release of the Signature Series DVD and features some interesting discussion about the film’s messages, characters, and themes. Behind the Scenes (SD, 18 minutes) is really an extended interview with producer Lee Daniels. It’s an interesting discussion of how the filmmakers overcame several obstacles to tell the story they wanted to tell. Interviews (SD, 20 minutes) key members of the cast and crew reveal what attracted them to the project. Music for the Film (SD, 8 minutes) an interesting featurette about the film’s score. Deleted Scenes (SD, 4 minutes) a collection of four deleted scenes, wisely left on the cutting room floor. On the Set (SD, 4 minutes) a series of performance gaffes and asides, this short featurette plays like a production diary, but offers very little insight into the production. Theatrical Trailer (SD, 2 minutes)
