Monster's Ball

Movie
German title	Monster's Ball
Original title	Monster's Ball
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	2001
length	111 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16 ; JMK 14
Rod
Director	Marc Forster
script	Milo Addica , ; Will Rokos
production	Lee Daniels
music	Ash & Spencer
camera	Roberto Schaefer
cut	Matt Chessé
occupation
	Billy Bob Thornton : Hank Grotowski; Halle Berry : Leticia Musgrove; Taylor Simpson : Lucille; Gabrielle Witcher : Betty; Heath Ledger : Sonny Grotowski; Amber Rules : Vera; Peter Boyle : Buck Grotowski; Charles Cowan Jr .: Willie Cooper; Taylor LaGrange : Darryl Cooper; Mos Def : Ryrus Cooper; Coronji Calhoun : Tyrell Musgrove; Sean Combs : Lawrence Musgrove; James Haven : Guard in the hospital;

Monster's Ball is an independent film by the German - Swiss director Marc Forster from 2001. In 2002 , Halle Berry was the first African American actress to be awarded the Oscar for best leading actress for the film drama .

action

Hank Grotowski directs executions in a penitentiary in the United States , as his father Buck used to do. His son Sonny also learns this craft in the same prison and is later to follow in his father's footsteps. However, Sonny suffers from the joyless, duty, macho and racist lifestyle of grandfather and father. While Sonny looks forward to his first execution, the perspective changes to the black death row inmate Lawrence Musgrove, who, after eleven years in prison, has one last conversation with his wife Leticia and his son Tyrell. Shortly before his execution, Sonny befriends him. The artistically gifted African American makes portraits of his two guards and gives them to Sonny. Meanwhile, Leticia and Tyrell wait in vain for one last call, which Musgrove is denied. During the execution, Sonny cannot withstand the psychological pressure and collapses on the prisoner's last walk. A violent argument between the pedantic Hank and his sensitive son is the result. Having fallen out of favor with his father, Sonny shoots himself in front of his eyes.

After this stroke of fate, Hank tries to rearrange his life. He gives up his job and buys a gas station. Leticia, grieving for her husband and worrying for her obese son, loses her job and becomes a waitress at Hank's hangout, where they meet. One rainy night when Leticia asks for help for her son, Tyrell, who was hit by a car, Hank stops and takes them both to the hospital. The boy dies there a short time later, and Hank drives Leticia home. They meet again in the pub; tender feelings develop between the two, initially fed by the shared experience of having lost a child and perhaps having failed as parents. The young love, however, stand in the way of Hank's racist father Buck and the fact that Hank's last inmate whom he accompanied to the electric chair was Leticia's husband Lawrence. Hank moves his father to the nursing home and repaints his house. When Leticia's house is evicted, she moves in with Hank. By chance, Leticia finds the portraits made of her dead husband in Sonny's room, is initially shocked, but finally seems to get over it.

History of origin

In England, death row inmates used to have a party on the eve of their execution - the so-called Monster's Ball . The script by Milo Adicca and Will Rokos, named after the context mentioned, circulated in Hollywood for almost five years . Well-known directors are said to have been shortlisted for the film; Actors Sean Penn and Robert De Niro were also traded for the direction or the male lead. Surprisingly, however, the decision was made to entrust the direction of the film to the German-Swiss dual citizen Marc Forster , who is relatively unknown in the USA . He moved to the United States in 1990 and studied at the renowned New York University film school, among other things .

Reviews

Blickpunkt: The film reported on the "most unusual love story in a long time". Although the film is "notorious" because of its sex scene, it mainly lives from its "sensational leading actors".
The film critic of the daily newspaper Die Welt found the story of very credible leading actors presented in a nuanced manner in the issue of September 5, 2002.
The taz on the same day saw excellent performances by the main actors, but the constructed plot and the sometimes poorly differentiated figure drawing were disturbing.
The Tagesspiegel judged the film less positively. The critic was particularly bothered by the woodcut-like script, and Halle Berry was a good-looking woman, but only a mediocre actress in the film.
Halle Berry "acted horribly," says the film magazine Jump Cut . Above all, however, the implausible plot “cannot be saved”.
The lexicon of international films , on the other hand, describes Monster's Ball as a "courageous, largely convincingly played and in many details extremely uncomfortable independent film, the disturbing plot of which raises many questions that are extended beyond the film by the concentrated staging."

Remarks

Even Vanessa L. Williams said to have been offered the female lead; However, she declined because of the revealing sex scene in the film.
Angela Bassett reportedly turned down the role of Leticia Musgrove on the grounds: "I wasn't ready to be a prostitute in the film." Later, Michael Paseornek , head of production company Lions Gate , and film producer Lee Daniels stated that Bassett didn't play the role had been offered; she was already committed to another film.
Wes Bentley is said to have decided not to take on the role of Sonny Grotowski.
Screenwriter Milo Addica has a brief cameo as prison guard Tommy, who leads the other guards into the prison chapel and tells them that Lawrence Musgrove wants to draw because it calms him down. Co-author Will Rokos also makes a brief appearance as a prison guard.
For the execution scene of Lawrence Musgrove, the decommissioned electric chair of the US state Louisiana and its premises were used.

Awards

At the 2002 Academy Awards, critics and audiences had expected Golden Globe winner Nicole Kidman to win a favorite for Moulin Rouge . It was a sensation when the best actor of the previous year, Russell Crowe , announced Berry as the winner in the category Best Actress . The deeply moved Halle Berry broke into tears several times during her subsequent acceptance speech and moved the audience at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood to tears and storms of applause. With the unexpected victory, she wrote Oscar history. She is the only African American actress to date to have been named Best Actress. Berry's sentimental acceptance speech was voted second of all Oscar speeches in the run-up to the 77th Academy Awards in 2005 , behind Tom Hanks ' poignant speech the actor gave for his 1994 Academy Awards in Philadelphia .