Before seeing this movie ,I saw all these great reviews and was really looking forward to seeing it. My reaction after seeing this movie? I was really let down,this film came across more like a raunchy version of a TV movie of the week than a serious motion picture. The only saving grace are the actors!

Monster's Ball wasn't made with a big budget by some very well known director. And to make things "worse", it's controversial as well because the story isn't exactly about a family living together happy with more money than there is water in the sea. And they weren't afraid to put a lot of racism in it, which was necessary to make this movie believable, but for some "politically correct" people, already reasons enough to say they didn't like it.

The movie tells us the story of Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton), a racist white prison guard who works on Death Row and Leticia Musgrove (Halle Berry), a black woman whose husband is about to be executed. Hank lives with his father and his son, who he really hates, under the same roof. But when a tragedy takes his son away, he starts thinking about his ideas. In the mean while he has met Leticia, not knowing who she really is and soon they fall in love with each other. This is the start of a relationship based rather on desperation than on love.

Monster's ball doesn't use cheap Hollywood sentiment like you might expect from this kind of movies, but is sincere and very compelling. This is of course also thanks to excellent performances. Halle Berry got an Oscar for it, but what I don't understand is why Billy Bob Thornton wasn't even nominated. His character may not be as likable and no he isn't as good looking as Berry, but his performance certainly wasn't any less. In fact, the entire movie was more than just worth a watch. It's very nice to see that there still are unknown directors who can make good movies with a good story, some fine actors and a small budget. I really enjoyed it and that's why I give it an 8/10.

It's a well known fact that MONSTER'S BALL won Halle Berry an Oscar for best actress and led to one of the most bizarre sites in the history of the ceremony where Berry shrieked , wept and gnashed her teeth in an uncontrollable manner . She probably wasn't overcome with emotion - She was impersonating the average person's reaction to seeing this film !

Depressing doesn't even begin to sum up this movie . It starts with the domestic life of three generations of prison officers the Grotowski family , two of which give racist redneck scumbags a bad name . A black prisoner is about to be executed and the middle and younger Grotowski ( Hank and Sonny respectively ) are looking after him and these scenes are amongst the most feel good moments of the story ! Words fail to describe what a bleak depressing movie this is . It's about redemption and finding love in the worst of circumstances but it's never entirely convincing . The fate of Sonny Grotowski didn't ring true and in the case of Berry's character just how unlucky can someone be in such a short period of time ?

I will congratulate the performances of the cast in this very well acted movie . Billy Bob Thornton is probably best remembered as " one of the men who married Angelina Jolie " but is also one of America's underappricated actors ( His screen writing abilities are also overlooked ) who manages to rise above the sometimes inconsistent material while Halle Berry what can I say ? Apart from that she really did deserve the Oscar . Well regarded character actor and acting guru Peter Boyle might be disappointing as Hank's reactionary father but since his character spends most of his time sitting in a chair slowly dying from respiratory failure he's not given much to do

But it should be pointed out once again that this is a very sad and melancholy film that won't have anyone dancing in the aisles I did appreciate the good performances but I doubt I'll be watching it again in a hurry