Monsters Ball

It keeps getting better and better. We only have to wait a few more years, instead of a few decades, before we see another African American win the Academy Award for acting. This is when Monsters Ball is released. I have always loved Halle Berry, ever since the first time I saw her in the made for television movie, Queen, she has stolen my heart with both her looks and amazing acting abilities. The movie follows Hank Grotowski, played by Billy Bob Thorton, a widower, who works as a prison guard. Hank's son, Sonny, played by Heath Ledger, works with him at the prison. They both reside with Hank's ailing father, Buck, played by Peter Boyle who happens to be a racist who drove his own wife to suicide. Hank hates his father because of how Buck's hate has now become his own, in so far as how he treats Sonny as well as black members of his neighboring community.

Hank and Sonny help in the execution of Lawrence Musgrove, played by Sean "P.Diddy" Combs, the husband of Leticia, played by Halle Berry, who went on to receive the Academy Award for acting for her role. Leticia's son is shown to have taken on his father's murderous traits.
Sonny begins to vomit because he can not handle the realness of the execution while leading Lawrence to his execution and is berated by his father because of it. This is due to a number of things but we come to see that it is most because he does not want to show any respect for his son because he is so unable to cope with the reality of life as he knows it. Due to this lack of compassion, Sonny takes a gun to his father. The altercation leads Sonny staring at his father at gunpoint yelling to his father, "You hate me, don't you?" His father replies calmly, "Always did." Sonny responds, "Well, I always loved you," puts the barrel of the gun to his chest, and shoots himself. This is totally unexpected.

After his son's untimely demise, Hank quits his job at the detention center and burns his uniform unceremoniously in his backyard.

During Lawrence's imprisonment and since his execution, Leticia Musgrove has been struggling alone for several years to raise Tyrell, who has become morbidly obese. She drinks frequently and is unable to pay her bills, which leads to her receiving an eviction notice.

Moving on to another story, Leticia works at the coffee shop that Hank visits all the time. She works here after she is fired from her former job because of her tardiness. One night, Leticia and Tyrell are at the coffee shop and after her shift is over, leaves and walks home. Tyrell is hit by a car on the way home, and guess who stops to help.

Yep, you guessed it, Hank. Hank drives by and at first does not stop to help. After a few seconds of reconsideration, he helps her out. They go to the hospital, but Tyrell does not make it and for some reason, Hank takes Leticia home with him out of self pity, of all things. Here is where they form some sort of super natural connection that ends in them have one intense sex scene, one so unexpected that I had had to shut my eyes, only for a few seconds. Hank later finds out that Leticia is Lawrence's wife, but does not mention his connection to Lawrence.

Buck strongly disapproves of the affair, and Hank eventually stands up against his father by sending him to a nursing home. In a way, this is tantamount to pronouncing a death sentence on his father. At the end of the film, Hank and Leticia lean on one another on the back steps of Hank's home - after she finds out that he had assisted in her husband's execution. Looking up at the stars, he tells her "We're going to be all right."

I do not suggest this movie if you are faint of heart. The emotional depiction of forbidden love and shattered souls may take a beating on your own. And your own soul is something that you want to keep hold of for years and years to come.