This movie was not a favorite with audiences so I knew there had to be something meaningful in it that the shallow public could not see or was not able to see or perhaps refused to see. It has one of the loveliest soundtracks I've ever heard which clings to the soul with a lingering and misty melancholy. A movie for for those who have known suffering. The Monster's Ball is a very bleak film yet it's also quite rare in that it's truly unpredictable. You won't find Hollywood trappings here. This is an Indy film, thoughtful with symbolism and a profound message. This movie caused a knee jerk reaction in parts of the black community, causing calls for boycotting and some racial tension. Simply put, a white racist death row prison guard, through a set of tragic and complex circumstances, begins to fall in love with the black wife of an inmate that he recently executed, of which she is totally unaware. Their anguished bond is the fact that they both have lost young sons. There is some blunt sexual content, however it's mainly queasy and uncomfortably painful rather than erotic. Still, this motion picture is not intended for children. This movie somehow captures the mood of yearning reconciliation between two devastated souls who discover they have absolutely nowhere else left to turn, except to each other. This is a startling "feel bad" movie that is able to say: tragedy will not be permitted to become the end of all hope. Rather it states: When you're at the end of your rope, letting go can be the best thing you can do. Ultimately consoling in a way that seeks to unlock a warm, rainy night in your heart where abandoned innocence is finally given a chance to be regained. Atmospheric and moody with a poetic and mystical resolution that leaves you with a mesmerizing shimmer of hope. In the final scene, Halle Berry unlocked something deep within herself. Her eyes spoke of a suffocated bleeding which magically suspended both time and space. "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." (Wikipedia)
Review of Monster's Ball
