neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Monster's Ball
	Marc Forster Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Peter Boyle, Heath Ledger, Sean Combs 2001		Racism and redemption are the twin topics at the soul of this beautifully acted and directed drama. Billy Bob Thornton ("Bandits") easily slips into the skin of Hank, a bigoted white prison guard in rural Georgia who gets involved with Leticia, the widow of a recently executed black convict (Sean Combs). Halle Berry ("Swordfish") gives the performance of a lifetime as Leticia, a beleaguered African-American woman fighting poverty and bad luck while she tries to raise her obese son. Hank doesn't have much of a home life. His hateful, sickly father (Peter Boyle) belittles him; then, Hank passes on the bad feelings to his browbeaten son (Heath Ledger), who also works as a guard at the local penitentiary. The casual prejudice displayed by Hank and his father is abhorrent. Yet Hank must be professional while attending Leticia's husband in the murderer's final hours on death row. To the credit of the two leads, when fate throws Hank and Leticia together, their catalytic reaction is believable.