Monster Movie
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Storyline
TAGLINES
Based on a true story
A dark tale based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos, one of America's first female serial killers. Wuornos had a difficult and cruel childhood plagued by abuse and drug use in Michigan. She became a prostitute by the age of thirteen, the same year she became pregnant. She eventually moved to Florida where she began earning a living as a highway prostitute—servicing the desires of semi-truck drivers. The tale focuses on the nine month period between 1989 and 1990, during which Wuornos had a lesbian relationship with a woman named Selby. And during that very same time, she also began murdering her clientele in order to get money without using sex. This turned the tables on a rather common phenomena of female highway prostitutes being the victims of serial killers—instead Wuornos, herself, carried out the deeds of a cold-blooded killer.
| Charlize Theron | Aileen |
| Christina Ricci | Selby |
| Bruce Dern | Thomas |
| Lee Tergesen | Vincent Corey |
| Pruitt Taylor Vince | Gene/Stuttering "John" |
| Annie Corley | Donna |
| Marco St. John | Evan/Undercover "John" |
| Marc Macaulay | Will/Daddy "John" |
| Scott Wilson | Horton/Last "John" |
| Rus Blackwell | Cop |
| Tim Ware | Chuck |
| Stephan Jones | Lawyer |
| Brett Rice | Charles |
| Kaitlin Riley | Teenage Aileen |
| Cree Ivey | 7-Year-Old Aileen |
| Patty Jenkins |
7.40 out of 10 (21689 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Good movie!
posted on 24 Aug 2009"Monster" is a fictionalization of the true story of Aileen "Lee" Wuornos (Charlize Theron), a prostitute who killed her johns and stole their money.
Lee tries to forge a "normal" life for herself and her partner Selby (Christina Ricci) but finds there is really no chance for her to do so.The real Wuornos was executed in 2002 after spending a dozen years on death row in Florida, and there is a pair of documentaries from Nick Broomfield featuring interviews with the convicted killer that may be worth checking out.I don't know how true to life this is; it is a fictionalization, to be sure, but I do know that writer / director Patty Jenkins and star / co-producer Theron did do their homework on the material, including talking with a woman who had been a pen pal of Wuornos'.It's actually more of a tragic, unconventional love story than anything else, and a carefully observed portrait of an emotionally ruined young woman who, according to this film anyway, never had a chance in life at all.Theron is very impressive in an Oscar-winning performance as the foul-mouthed and world-weary Lee; it's a great job of total immersion in a role (helped, also, by a good makeup job). Ricci does a respectable job, too; it's one of her better performances."Monster" is a fine debut film for Jenkins and I hope a sign of good things to come from her. When all is said and done, however, Theron's performance is more memorable than the film itself.8/10
Who is the victim?
posted on 22 Aug 2009This is one of those rare movies you keep thinking about after you leave the theatre. Aileen is a victim, but also a victimizer. She killed a man who beat her, but also one who only wanted to help her. It's an object lesson in rationalizing. I thought of George Bush (an easy example, but it could as easily be Richard the Lionhearted), a man who truly believes in higher power and morality, but is able to rationalize killing people for a desirable end. History is full of such people. The crime news is full of the same people, but they operate on a smaller stage. By lumping all men together, Wournos is able to rationalize picking them at random to kill, either for their money or to act as a self-righteous avenger. You have to admire an actress who takes a part like this, and Theron excells at making us feel alternately sympathetic and repelled. How could she top this? Ricci is good enough, though she falls back too often on cocking her head to one side (like Diane Keaton) and something about her eyes reminded me of Steve Buscemi. The pace slows a bit in the middle, but all in all, a great movie.
BELIEVE the Hype, Walk..no RUN to see this movie
posted on 20 Aug 2009I'm baffled at some of the bad reviews for Charlize Theron's new movie Monster because Charlize Theron IS a revelation! Charlize is not playing Aileen, Charlize IS Aileen and I believed that from beginning to end. The guy who ran the Last Resort Biker bar, the hangout where Aileen frequented got the opportunity to work with Charlize and Patty Jenkins the first time(!) director of Monster. He knew Aileen and knew her mannerisms etc and he was astonished at Charlize's portrayal of Lee and I am too. Those who say Charlize was awakward in the role are missing the point especially about Lee and Selby. Their scene in the roller rink and outside of the roller rink is one of the greatest love scenes in my recent memory. The enthuiastic kissing is refreshing when compared to standard hollywood love scenes where people act like what is expected of them instead of how real people act when the excitement/arousal for each other hits them square between the eyes. When Lee and Selby eventually are intimate, their clinging to one another(clawing even) are extremely believable.Ms. Theron is so incredible in Monster, I dare say she might not be able to ever match it again. I feel that some might be expecting her too which would be unfair. I never knew she had this inside her, the talent to really lose herself in a role but she has proved that in spades with Monster. I only wish the movie had been longer and I was disappointed in the courtroom scenes..why on earth wasn't this focused on more? Despite this I highly recommend Monster to anyone who is even mildly curious, see it at a matinee if you must. I also recommend Nick Bloomfield's documentary about Aileen called "Aileen:Life and Death of a Serial Killer" which is playing in select cities including New York. The docu is a revisiting from over 10 years ago when Nick first made Lee the subject of a documentary called "Selling of a Serial Killer" which is available to buy on VHS.If you think you might not like the movie or might not be able to stomach, I still ask you see it for Charlize's potrayal alone. It is worth it despite what others think.
Stunning Performances
posted on 16 Aug 2009Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci excel in their respective roles as serial killer Aileen Wuornos and her lover in director/writer Patty Jenkins' imagining of the circumstances that would drive Wuornos to commit the murders of seven Florida men (most of them thinking they were picking up a streetwalker). Jenkins' theories are all over the map and include pretty much the garden variety of possibilities (Wuornos' abuse as a child, her lack of education precluding her getting reasonable employment, her brutal rape at the hands of her first victim, etc.) but, fortunately, she's less interested in dwelling on her sociological positions than in letting her performers dissolve into their characters. Theron, in particular, is stunning: she seems to connect with Wuornos in a primal, subconscious manner and you get the feeling Theron is living the part, not merely acting it. Always an intriguing performer (she was quite good in `The Devil's Advocate'), here she refuses to hide behind her sun-scarred makeup and weight gain and succeeds in letting emerge Wuornos' entire personality rather than simply her barbaric need for revenge. Ricci is also excellent, as usual, smoothly underplaying a role that could have easily evolved into a histrionic attempt to capture the picture; like Theron, she seems attracted to the darker side of her nature but is able to use her complex powers of suggestion for definition rather than signal her conflicts. Together, the performances lift `Monster' above its overall routine disposition (though there is some nice late-afternoon cinematography by Steven Bernstein and the font used by Elton Garcia in the title, the same one used for Marlboro cigarettes, is a nice touch). With Bruce Dern as Wuornos' homeless ally and Pruitt Taylor Vince as the pathetic stuttering john intended by Jenkins to emblemize Wuornos' misguided compassion.
Dirty Pretty Depressing Things (possible minor spoilers)
posted on 16 Aug 2009It always seems a little ironic when a brilliant movie is made about miserable little people doing bad things. "In Cold Blood" is probably the best example. Scott Wilson (who's also briefly in "Monster") and Robert Blake were perfect as the guys who killed a Kansas family for about forty bucks but through no fault of their own, the technology and impact of cinema gave their characters a kind of elevated resonance that the real killers (probably) didn't have. If the executed killers could see the movie in some kind of afterlife, I wonder how they reacted to it or if they thought it should have been done at all. I wonder the same about the executed Aileen Wuornos and "Monster."As the hapless harried prostitute who went down in history as "America's first female serial killer," an unrecognizable Charlize Theron assumes a completely alien physicality that rivals that of Robert de Niro in "Raging Bull." But it would be unfair to credit the make-up department for her performance. It's an absolutely fearless and ballsy job on her part; while of course any thespian playing a real person (especially with lots of "warts") has a kind of background edge, in a way it's even more of a challenge to create an onscreen persona to whom audiences can "relate" when the character is real as opposed to one created out of whole cloth, because there can't be any little "twitches" that don't tally with what the audience members know (or think they know) about the real person. So e.g. in "Monster" we couldn't see Theron hugging a puppy or something because we can't imagine the late Wuornos ever having done that.Wuornos denied she was a "serial killer" because in her view each of the "johns" she killed did something to provoke it; in the movie the first john-victim is depicted as a misogynist psycho (an almost equally unrecognizable Lee Tergesen from TV's "Oz") who would have killed her if she hadn't killed him. It's then suggested that the other killings had a somewhat premeditated aspect to them, although Wuornos is hardly depicted as being coldly methodical about it--quite the contrary. I suppose Wuornos took the truth about it to the grave with her.There's a subplot about Wuornos' relationship with a conflicted young lesbian played by Christina Ricci; while I can't claim to know how "true to life" it is, it's compelling enough onscreen. I've never been much of a Ricci fan but she can be effective in the right part, like this one; she's like Wynona Ryder with a kind of sinister undercurrent. Most of the other cast members (all but a few played by unknown actors) aren't required to do much more than look the part. Bruce Dern is a real treat as Wuornos' only friend, a Vietnam vet a step away from homelessness. Why doesn't he get used more?The movie's overall tone reminds me somewhat of T. Malick's mid-Seventies epics "Badlands" and "Days of Heaven," meditations on the dichotomy between "evil" and the somewhat (anti-)heroic stature we attach to it on the one hand, and on the other hand the decidedly mundane and pedestrian aspects of the actual people who do the actual "evil" things. "Monster" is a true slice of ripe Americana filmed on location in Florida where Wuornos lived, killed and died. It's a great little piece of work in quasi-documentary style (which doesn't mean "looking crude" like that stupid "Blair Witch" thing) and I hope lots of foreigners watch it since they'll see us Yanks at our best, our worst and in the middle. Not a single character comes off as being representative of a "Superpower" which I love because neither does any actual Yank I've ever met, including or especially yours truly.Awards, of course, don't affect a movie's inherent qualities but I'll admit I was happy Theron won the Golden Globe, partly so the movie would have wider distribution. Even though Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill" was the tour de force par excellence covering a vast emotional range, Theron had the "Billy Bob Thornton" kind of role, staying rigidly within the character's emotional limits. That, I think, is even more of an achievement.A few quibbles: I thought "Monster" somewhat breezed past the judicial proceedings and the execution was only mentioned on a title card at the end, but of course that wasn't the thrust of the story. I didn't think it was necessary to have Ricci's Norman-Rockwell-Nazi mother character use the word "nigger" to hint at the lifestyle against which Ricci was rebelling. We had grasped that already. If the movie is ABOUT racism or has it as a strong theme or subtext, then words like that are appropriate. (Quentin Tarantino uses the word when he thinks it's needed, and when its not needed, he doesn't use it.) But just tossed in as a quick jolt seems a kind of cheat.So what do we "learn" from "Monster"? Maybe nothing we didn't already know, or maybe just to remind us to count our blessings because however each of us may find his or her life lacking or crappy, look around and there's bound to be someone even worse off...No offense to Floridians but it's my theory that Florida is actually Hell. The guy who buried his puppies alive was there, and the woman who shot her kids and herself only the kids didn't die and had to lie on the floor wounded for a week, and Elian Gonzalez was kidnapped by Federal storm troopers, and Ted Bundy finished up there, and other criminal types, and of course Wuornos, and the latest horror with the girl on videotape. Plus of course there's Janet Reno, Jeb Bush & the Hanging Chads....
Theron earned that Oscar.
posted on 31 Jul 2009Not being very familiar with the true story behind this film, I'll opt out of judging its veracity in terms of objectively defining Wuornos' character.However - Charlize Theron has indelibly stamped her mark on the shortlist of actresses who truly morph into each new role. Meryl Streep, for example.The film, for all its shortcomings, is riveting, mainly by virtue of Theron's portrayal. Christina Ricci and Bruce Dern are notable, as well. The seamy, downscale side of Florida is well represented, as is the unrelenting desperation of its down-and-out underclass. It's a film worth watching several times. The dialogue is sometimes slightly muddled and hard to follow, simply because Theron is so absorbed in being Wuornos, she doesn't always enunciate well enough to be understood. I'd like to have seen a bit more fleshing out of her background and the process that led up to her death sentence. The major flaw in the whole premise may have been that it was told entirely from her POV -- which causes some dissonance between the person we see and her ultimate fate, which comes across as quite unfair. As another reviewer said, she couldn't have been just another "misunderstood bad guy." None of the above detracts from Theron's work here. Her range is the stuff of legends./r
Lifetime movie with extra grit
posted on 27 Jul 2009Charlize Theron's fine, albeit slightly overrated, performance, centers the movie. Unfortunately, there's not much surrounding it. Condensing anyone's life story into a two hour package inevitably involves simplifying details. However, in Monster, the movie didn't just simplify the story -- it eliminated any complexity whatsoever. While the movie (smartly) doesn't deify Aileen Wuornos, it doesn't provide much insight other than sketching out a brief history of her troubled background and that she wanted to be loved. Yet the movie seems to fear too many rough edges -- reading reviews of this movie that give it credit for its portrayal of a seedy Florida milieu, I'm struck by the fact that most of these reviewers wouldn't have the slightest clue what that really would have been like. And that was one area where the movie was most unconvincing. For all the talk about Theron's make up job, what about Christina Ricci's? Considering they were broke most of the film, she must have stocked up on the Cover Girl before running away from home.This isn't just a matter of picking details. Detachment takes the place of authenticity, which only serves to magnify the lack of context that this movie has. It's not quite comfortable coming from the point of view of the mad Wuornos. And Selby is pretty much a blank. As the movie crawled to its inevitable inevitability, I was left wondering what was point the filmmakers were trying to get across other than it really sucked to be Aileen Wuornos.The best sequence in the movie is when Wuornos goes out to get a real job. Theron does a great job of conveying both the inflated optimism Wuornos develops in the throes of love, and the quick turnaround when the real world treats the way it always had before. This is the one part of the movie that actually said something.
Charlize Theron as a serial killer
posted on 25 Jul 2009I would suggest,not to mince matters,that Miss Ricci is a very limited,average actress,but Mrs. Theron makes here a compelling role as a lacerated tat,an envenomed homicidal maniac,holding forth a compact performance;she drives the flick home.The story is,indeed,strong;the movie is well-written,compendious.It narrates a death-darting trip,that pours an overspill of pitch-black pitfalls.Somehow,the monster in this movie is the teen-age owlish lorn gay in tears,"Selby".Her friend,"Aileen",keeps the pot boiling.She is an ugly whore that pips some clients,a bitter pill to swallow,and who places confidence and burning love in the jerky,odious teen-age oddity that overmasters her.The movie manages to make her a larger-than-life character.The two women hang together for some jollification."Selby" is off the hinges and has a hank over the grubby whore.The latter is ebullient and flip."Selby" gets scared and grumbler.Monster (2003) is a pithy movie.It ascends steadily to its gruesome pinnacle.It gave me the creeps.
Competent tale, highlighted by Theron
posted on 19 Jul 2009I've never been a great fan of Theron's acting. She has other assets I'm more keen on :-)However, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of her performance opposite Ricci, as the lesbian homicidal prostitute Wornos in what is a well put together portrayal of a true story.This was competent throughout without being particularly spectacular, but it was watchable all the same.
This movie kind of sucked
posted on 19 Jul 2009They actually did quite a good job portraying a situation here.. using heavy makeup to make Aileen look like she's had a though life. She manages to do good face-acting. But 109 minutes of overdone mouth-corners forced downwards while smiling become really annoying, it gives me a sense of irrealism even if she's had a though life. And the annoyances continue.The movie would be somewhat more successful if I could identify with one of the characters. But Aileen snaps too quick and Selby puts up with that and too much else to the point where it becomes lame. They are both pretty annoying people and the drama they get themselves into is pretty self inflicted in a way that prevents any compassion from the audience's point of view. Selby's cute (and innocent) face does affect this in a good way though, but that's overshadowed by annoyance and heavy predictability. What should have been a powerful aspect of the movie that would make you more tolerant to all the annoyances, namely their love for each other, is shown far too meagerly to make up for anything.Finally there's voice over by Aileen, being a bit cool and it could make the movie more powerful, but it turns out she isn't narrating the story at all. It's like she randomly remembers to say something. Carefully written, this could be far more powerful.Love, compassion, narration and predictability all have failed in this movie, making it close to a waste of time to watch. Although the last one isn't very flexible when photographing a true story.
The characters are rich !
posted on 19 Jul 2009*possible spoiler*This true life story is well directed and the story unfolds pretty nicely to a final act that really nails it down.The character is nicely presented, the killer shifts from a completely explainable point of view (in her first murder) to a completely uneven, mean, killing where she was capable to go against all of her instincts and kill the old man.As she goes thru with these killings, she heals herself from all the hurt and anger she got bottled up inside and her personal story unfolds to the people she kill.we also learn, in the end, that if there is anything true about her, it was her love for her girlfriend. We also learn that she is not so demented and that she is in fact, a pretty intelligent person.This is the story of a hurt and scorned young woman who lived all her life in a dream, and a sickness that took her by storm. She finally woke up from all that and healed up with the help of pure love. It was too late, nobody can, like she said, forgive after what she has done. But she figured it out, she was finally stable and reasonable and that's the way she died...
Monster "There is a fine line between good and evil"
posted on 11 Jul 2009I saw Monster for the first time in January 2005. I never knew what all the sensation was with Charlize Theron. Actually, I had seen her in movies but didn't really know who she was, but I must say did she ever make a lasting impression on me. This movie hasn't left my thoughts.I know what it's like to be mentally abused and taken advantaged of by people, and when I saw this movie, it all came flooding back. This movie showcased what our country has done for the abused, battered, and pushed aside child: Nothing.We all know that Aileen Wuornos never had a chance, but this movie gives hope to the hopeless. I believe that somewhere out there a life will be saved by the love and caring that went into bringing this tragedy to the big screen. We can all say, "I would never kill", but how do we know what we would do unless we find ourselves on the edge between reality and despair. Each and every one of us has the ability to make choices, but we must remember what circumstances we are facing when these choices must be made. For Aileen, most of her choices were due to survival, for the most part of her life, but when she found someone that was willing to love her she fought for it to the end. It's unfortunate that Aileen lived such a horrible life and when love found her, she couldn't hold on to it. The saddest and most ironic thing was that Selby was no different to Aileen than the rest of the world had been. The one person that Aileen loved, cared for, and let her guard for turned on her. Can you imagine what Aileen felt inside when she heard these tapes played in court? I'm sure that no judge had to impose the death sentence on her because her girlfriend did it for her. At that moment, all Aileen had lived for those past four years was gone. Granted she murdered and she had to pay the price. She had taken some innocent lives for the most part, but no one ever paid the price for taking her life so many years ago, and here was Selby putting the final nail in Aileen's coffin.Where was the justice for Aileen Wuornos? Who fought for her when the world was caving in on her? Why did her girlfriend get nothing more than a slap on the wrist? There is a fine line between good and evil, and once you've crossed it there's no turning back.This movie rates a 10 in my book. It gave us the opportunity to see the broken spirit behind the Monster.
We knew when we saw her in Cider House Rules. Charlize Theron is a genuine A list star.
posted on 07 Jul 2009Charlize is simply gorgeous, fantastic, spectacular and her role and appearance and 30+ pounds for this movie prove that she can be as versatile as all the A list women. She simply takes your breath away in every movie she makes and in this one. While it is difficult to watch because her character was a real life MONSTER. SHe does a fabulous job as does co star Christina Ricci who has sure grown up. Hands down Oscar winner by far for Charlize. Now we want to see her in a comedy role. Kudos to all who made this movie.
Model Behaviour
posted on 07 Jul 2009Crouched by the freeway like a weary bird of prey, Aileen Wuornos (Theron) looks back on her miserable life and contemplates suicide. A meeting with direction-less teenage lesbian Selby (Ricci) convinces her to give life another shot – until she's raped and half-killed by a john, who she shoots in self-defence. Like some feminist Robin Hood (the point's rammed home explicitly), she's soon killing and robbing her sleazier clients to support her girlfriend. Then she begins to gun down innocent parties. Lost in the zone, she hurtles inexorably toward tragedy. Almost every appraisal of writer-director Jenkins' film has latched onto Theron's unlovely prosthetic, serving to objectify both Theron and Wuronos, and unconsciously mirroring the kind of misogyny Aileen faced daily. Truthfully, she's less ugly than plain – yet the camera seems to 'hate' her too, continually picking over her cornbread complexion and tombstone-teeth. 'I always wanted to be in the movies' Wuronos muses over the opening, and Jenkins pieced her plot together from a series of correspondences with the Death Row inmate herself – not the most reliable source, perhaps, when attempting to tell the 'true' story; documentary-maker Nick Broomfield's already made much of the inconsistencies surrounding the case, and it would have been better to show how the hooker-turned-serial killer became so brutalised in the first place. If Theron's undoubtedly punishing role, all nervous tics and bravado swagger, results in a skilled impersonation, it's Ricci who neatly steals the movie from under her nose with a subtly-layered performance of quiet depths. But ultimately what remains is a particularly earnest form of Trash-ploitation.
No Redeeming Social Value Whatsoever
posted on 05 Jul 2009I'm truly sorry I watched this film. I do think Charlize Theron's performance was incredible as far as acting goes. But this film is just a sick, twisted depressing story about a very unfortunately messed-up individual and her naive and confused lover. The director called it a "love story." If Aileen Wuornos had ever known how to love, she probably would not have been sentenced to death! If this film did anything for me, it made me realize how blessed I am that in spite of my troubles and trials, I have Christ in my life and a family that loves and supports me. I don't say this out of self-righteousness or holier-than-thou arrogance. I truly wish Aileen Wuornos and her girlfriend had had these things.
Unbelievable
posted on 29 Jun 2009As a stereotypical butch lesbian, very few things in this world make me cry, and for once in my life I am not ashamed to say that I was bawling my eyes out by the conclusion of this stunning movie. I pushed play without knowing a single thing about the movie, unknowing how I would be touched by this brilliant piece of artwork. The raw emotion expressed in the movie was a magnificent display of talent and heart. I honestly doubt that anyone who was in anyway involved with this movie walked away unmoved. This marvelous story opened my eyes to a whole new level of love, a whole new meaning of the word. When you can feel so strongly about someone that you are willing to kill to make them happy, you know you've reached a higher level of emotional attachment. This movie explored an amazing life. It's to bad she had to be betrayed so many times in her life. I wish I had been given the chance to meet Ms. W in person to tell her how amazing she really was. This woman's life and the way it was so touchingly documented has moved me in unbelievable ways. Kudos to everyone involved with this movie.-Rei
Calling For Love
posted on 23 Jun 2009"Monster" is a film written and directed by Patty Jenkins. It is based on a true story of a Florida serial killer named Aileen Wournos. Charlize Theron stars as Aileen while Christina Ricci plays her helpless girlfriend Selby. Aileen opens the movie attempting suicide. The prostitute decides to spend her last five dollars she performed oral sex for, at the nearest bar with the intentions of not wasting her hard earned money. If God has a plan for her, now would be His last opportunity. After she gets a beer, she is approached by a young lesbian. She makes it clear that she is by no means gay, then becomes friends with the girl. They end up staying the night together and Aileen falls in love. Aileen asks the girl to run away with her. They live in a hotel off the earnings Aileen has made from whoring. One of her customers ends up raping her and attempts to kill her, but she ends up freeing herself and killing him. From then on, she decides to take her customer's money and lives, rather than to perform sexual favors for them, that is until the point when the faces of Aileen and Selby appear as wanted on the television. The critical intention of the movie is monitoring a woman crossing over from good to evil. It attempts to portray Aileen's last attempt to love someone or be loved by someone.An aspect of the movie that amazed me was the costume and make-up. The artists took one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood and turned her into a street hooker. I find it amazing that Charlize gained thirty pounds for the film. She really grasps the character of the movie. I also enjoyed the movie because it was based on a true story. I like watching or reading something that has actually happened because I feel like I can more relate to it. Something I didn't like about the movie was the vulgar language used. I thought it also concentrated on the love life between the two rather than the actual murders that Aileen committed. I think that the movie should have concentrated more on the murders because it is the significant part of Aileen's life. If the viewer enjoys crime and dramas, this movie might appeal to them, but the plot lagged and the ending was abrupt. This is not a movie I would recommend.
Theron executes one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema in a powerful, honest and unsettling picture
posted on 19 Jun 2009Monster (2003)Top 5 - 2003Before I start there is one thing I need to say. Bravo to Charlize Theron not only for embodying troubled and disturbed prostitute Aileen Wuornos but also agreeing to do a major film role where she was made to look plain ugly. It was a bold move and it paid off.This film is the real life story of Daytona Beach prostitute Aileen Wuornos, a troubled, beaten down woman (both physically and mentally) whose unfortunate life drove her to this horrific path of selling her body to survive from the age of 13. The message this film gets across so poignantly is that most of these people who are prostitutes do not go into it as a choice but are forced to be humiliated in order to survive. This is what Monster is all about and much more.As Wuornos narrates in flashbacks how she was raped at an age of 8 and her struggles as a young kid squeezing her into a corner with no other choice, you start to feel sorry about this unfortunate character.After a man brutally attacked her after a pick up, Wuornos escapes, shoots him and steals his stuff and car. This is her new way of surviving. She doesn't want to 'hook' anymore she wants a normal life with her naive lesbian friend Shelby an 18 year old girl who ran away from her normal life to be with Wuornos. Ultimately it is Shelby who gives her friend to the police.Theron's performance is one of the best I have ever seen, deserving of every accolade she received for this honest, physically demanding and unsettling performance. Ricci's performance is also a strong one.I guess this film wants to say that why we may frown upon prostitution, we should sometimes try to understand the motives behind it and how millions of poor souls result to this tragic fate in order to survive. It is not that Aileen Wuornos, sensationalised by the media as 'America's first serial killer' was really a bad person, it was the environment that made her do the things she did. While I am not excusing the woman's actions I understand to an extent her sheer desperation (from what the film showed me).An excellent, but depressing film. Gripping, no-nonsense cinema.8.5/10
Grim...but good...
posted on 30 Aug 2009This is NOT a movie for the "date crowd" or for 14 year old boys looking for a blockbuster.This is a grim ,hard movie to watch about real things happeing to real people.The acting was superb.Charlize WILL get the oscar for this performance.If she doesnt, its highway robbery.Between this and 21 grams , I dont know which was harder to watch.I love movies that are real and gritty like these.MAKE MORE OF THEM!