Monster's Ball

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Monster's Ball
Directed by	Marc Forster
Produced by	Lee Daniels Entertainment, Lions Gate Films
Written by	Milo Addica, Will Rokos
Starring	Billy Bob Thornton Halle Berry Heath Ledger Peter Boyle Sean "P. Diddy" Combs
Music by	Asche & Spencer, The Jayhawks
Distributed by	Lions Gate Films
Release date(s)	November 11, 2001
Running time	112 min. (Unrated Director's Cut)
Language	English
Budget	US$4,000,000
IMDb profile

Monster's Ball is a 2001 American drama/romance film directed by Marc Forster and written by Milo Addica and Will Rokos. It was produced by Lions Gate Films and Lee Daniels Entertainment. 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.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Main cast 3 Reception 3.1 Controversy within acclaim 3.2 Coronji Calhoun as Tyrell Musgrove 4 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Hank Grotowski (Thornton), a widower, is employed as a prison guard. Sonny (Ledger), Hank's son, works alongside his father. They both reside with Hank's ailing father, Buck (Boyle), an ardent racist who drove his own wife to suicide. Hank hates his father, more so 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 assist in the execution of convicted murderer Lawrence Musgrove (Combs), Leticia's husband, and the father of their son, Tyrell. Tyrell has inherited Lawrence's artistic tendencies.

The execution proves too intense for Sonny to handle, who begins to vomit as he is leading Lawrence to the electric chair. Hank belittles Sonny for this, refusing to show any respect or compassion for his son. Sonny, unable to cope with such utter estrangement, later lashes out at his father, armed with a revolver. The confrontation ends in their living room, Hank at gunpoint, lying on the carpet, and Sonny in his grandfather's customary chair. Sonny asks 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.

Hank quits his job at the detention center and burns his uniform in his backyard.

During Lawrence's imprisonment and since his execution, Leticia Musgrove (Berry) 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.

By chance, Leticia becomes employed at a coffee shop frequented by Hank after she is fired from her previous job for being late. That same night, Leticia and Tyrell, who had been waiting at the coffee shop for his mother's shift to end, are walking down a rain-soaked highway, when Tyrell is struck by a car. Leticia is left helpless on the side of the road, grasping her son and calling out to passersby for help.

Hank is driving along that very road and sees Leticia. He drives by but, through either his conscience or moral beliefs, goes back, picks them up, and drives them to a hospital.

Tyrell dies almost immediately after entering the hospital, and Hank reluctantly takes Leticia home. There, the two form an unexpected bond, with each longing for human connection in their grief. They begin an affair, which is less based on sex than emotional support and friendship. He finds out that she is Lawrence's widow, but he does not tell her that he was her husband's guard.

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.". ^[1]

[edit] Main cast

• Billy Bob Thornton … as Hank Grotowski
• Halle Berry … as Leticia Musgrove
• Heath Ledger … as Sonny Grotowski
• Peter Boyle … as Buck Grotowski
• Sean Combs … as Lawrence Musgrove
• Coronji Calhoun … as Tyrell Musgrove

[edit] Reception

[edit] Controversy within acclaim

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.

The film won Halle Berry the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2001. Berry performed with Thornton in a graphic sex scene [3]

Despite numerous positive reviews of the film, many African Americans were initially deeply split over Berry's winning the award. On websites and blogs such as SeeingBlack.com, BET.com, and EURWEB.com — new centers for discussion on black political and cultural issues — many poured out what they felt about what was really being said in the film. Some did not even view the film, but claimed "to know" enough about what was in it to urge others to boycott it, as with Miles Willis of KPFT's (Pacifica Radio's) 'Milestones' Jazz Program. His statement, which was championed by syndicated film columnist Esther Iverem, went around the Internet, and included observations like this: "Imagine the seething indignation that a Jewish man might feel while watching a story in which the widow of a Nazi concentration camp victim has an intimate relationship with the SS officer that shoved her husband into one of those ovens at Auschwitz!"

Willis was also angered at having to "watch black women gettin' down with mangy, white redneck 'billybobs'." Iverem, on Salon.com, chimed later, "You have to wonder if this is what it takes for a black woman to be named best actress […] Who was the last 'best actress' who did a nude sex scene?" Iverem went on to say, "Ultimately, Monster's Ball uses the legacy of racism in an unconvincing manner to belittle its impact, and its historical and present-day consequences." Iverem maintained that scores of black men were boycotting the film.

Many also believed that the scene perpetuated the stereotype of the "Jezebel" which generally portrays black women as ferocious and lewd, with an appetite for sexual encounters which is portrayed here by the animalistic and raw quality of the scene. ^[2]

Still others believed that Berry had been handed the award in a political move by the Academy to deflect previous charges of racism, a claim that has not been substantiated; proponents of this belief cite that Berry won the award the same night as Denzel Washington, during a ceremony hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, and which also contained numerous references and tributes to African American stars of past and present. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

The scene received rave reviews, and was described as "primal" and "raw." [10]

[edit] Coronji Calhoun as Tyrell Musgrove

"Perhaps one of the most affecting performances of the year was given by a 10-year-old Louisiana fourth-grader who has never acted before or studied the craft," commented Variety reporter Christopher Grove. Indeed, many people were particularly moved by — and concerned with — the plight of Coronji Calhoun, the youth who played Tyrell Musgrove, the ill-fated son of Lawrence and Leticia.

Coronji was chosen from an open casting call, and was paid the minimum union scale for his work. He also suffered demonstrably from obesity, a malady currently affecting increasing numbers of American children regardless of economic circumstances. Tyrell's chocolate addiction was based on his hunger for his absent father.

In a feature interview by iofilm.co.uk columnist Paul Fischer, Berry discussed working with Coronji, including the scene where she as Leticia strikes Tyrell for hiding candy. "Marc (the director) and I were talking to him, saying this is just a movie, and I kept saying, everything I do and say, it's not real. I really think you're wonderful. And he said, 'Well, whatever you do to me, Halle Berry, it isn't going to be worse than what the kids at school do to me.'"

On the film's website, which has since been removed, Coronji was described as being a normal child who enjoyed playing basketball and video games and who liked to dance. Still others suggested that something more should have been done for the boy by giving him a scholarship or a commemorative trust fund for his work. As Tyrell, Coronji poignantly brought his own experience about being fat, sensitive and artistic to the screen.

Coronji Calhoun was listed as missing on a Web site seeking to find and reunite survivors of Hurricane Katrina. However, it has been learned that Coronji was living some 25 miles outside of New Orleans, in a town that sustained little Katrina damage, and that he is alive and well.

[edit] External links

• review of Monster's Ball by cosmopolis.ch
• Monster's Ball at the Internet Movie Database
• Monster's Ball at Rotten Tomatoes
• Monster's Ball at Box Office Mojo
• [11] 2001 version of Monster's Ball script.
• [12] article by Uju Asika in Salon.com, regarding the response to Monster's Ball and Berry's Oscar.
• [13] Miles Willis' comments about Halle Berry's Oscar nomination that showed up on dozens of black listserves, websites, and in e-mails.
• [14] Metaphilm editor gives a highly unflattering review of Monster's Ball.
• [15] Esther Iverem's SeeingBlack.com column after Berry's Oscar win; however, links to reader responses in text may be dead.
• Article describing the Angela Bassett interview in Newsweek
• Interview with Halle Berry regarding her performance as Leticia Musgrove
• Official webpage of Imitating Life: Women, Race and Film conference sponsored by the Program in African American Studies, Princeton University, September 22-23, 2000
• "Whatever Works Best": article by Christopher Grove.