Monster’s Ball (2001) 6/10

Starring : Billy Bob Thornton, Heath Ledger, Halle Berry, Peter Boyle
Director : Marc Forster
Running Time : 109 mins

Racist prison guard Hank Grotowski (Thornton) finds himself falling in love with a black woman named Leticia Musgrove (Berry) when they get to know each other after her son is involved in a hit and run accident. To make things worse, Hank is also the man who executed Leticia’s husband as part of his Death Row duties, but neither of them realise that this is the case.

The fact that Hank has had a racist upbringing doesn’t even really seem to get touched upon; granted his dad uses the n word, but Hank talks to black people and doesn’t say anything outrageously derogatory about them. The main focus should have really been on the fact that Hank killed Leticia’s husband, which would be a mjor obstacle for the two of them to overcome – even bigger than race – and the fact that race is even brought into the equation tends to water down the overall message of the movie. Throw in some over the top sex scenes and hammy acting from Berry, and this turns out to be a pretty mediocre flick.

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