Monster (2004, DVD)

I watched Monster along with my husband and a friend. Our friend picked us up in his car, and while going to the theater we were a chatty lot, talking about this and that. After watching the movie, on our way back the same journey was completed in absolute silence. Monster is that kind of a movie, it grim, it is dark and for a while you don t even want to discuss it with anyone.

I watched this movie in theatre this year (June, 2004) as many Hollywood hits are released later in India. I was already aware of the superb performance of Charlize Theron and the Oscar she got. Still I was curious if her performance was really that good! Now that I have watched the movie I have to say her performance in this movie is truly awesome. She plays the real life serial killer Aileen Wuornos on screen and she has played it with a lot of conviction. The movie is ably supported by Christina Ricci as Selby, Aileen s love interest.

The Plot: Aileen Wuornos, as a child dreams of becoming famous, maybe an actress. But she is caught up in a dysfunctional family and is sexually abused by her father s best friend from the age of eight. When she complains to her father, she is not believed and beaten up. By thirteen she has a baby (given up for adoption) and she moves on to highway prostitution.

After many years of a life as a prostitute, on a wet rainy day, she wants to end her life but after having a drink. She ends up by mistake in a lesbian bar. As she asks for a drink, a young girl, Selby tries to talk to her, and Aileen insults her for trying. Selby tells in a little voice that all she wanted was to talk to her, she was so lonely. They spend the evening drinking together, and later in Selby s house and bed, where they just fall asleep. Selby is the daughter of a minister who has been sent to their relatives to sort her sexuality out. The contrast in Aileen and Selby could not be more, Aileen is tall, coarse and beaten whereas Selby is young, petite and refined. But Selby takes a fancy to Aileen.

They meet again in a skating ring and gradually start seeking each other out. Aileen continues with her profession and one day a customer brutally rapes her and tries to kill her. Instead Aileen kills that guy in self-defense. She takes his car and money and asks Selby to run away with her, which she does.

Being deprived of love, Aileen hangs on to Selby tightly. After having killed a man, she wants to quit prostitution but she has no other skill and Selby cannot (does not?) want to work. Selby s hand is in a cast and that is her excuse. Aileen or Lee as she is called now is back to the streets but this time around many of her customers find something they had not bargained for- death.

This and That: This movie is based on a true story of the serial killer Aileen Wuornos who was executed in Florida in October 2002. But I am not aware of the facts related to the true story and cannot comment on how close the movie is to the actual story.

The movie has such an unconventional person as a lead character, after all I do not see many movies where the female lead is a prostitute, a serial killer and in a lesbian relationship. Charlize Theron has done complete justice to the role of Lee. Her makeup is superb, she has extremely bad set of teeth, her face is full of freckles and she wears shapeless clothes. In other words, she is unrecognizable. She looks completely beaten down. But that is not all due to the make up. Theron has acted even more brilliantly to make the character believable. She has acted awkward, unsure, confused, angry, defeated and on rare occasions happy, all with aplomb. I cannot sing enough praises for Theron as Lee and she definitely deserved the Oscar she got.

Selby s character is quite opposite of Lee. She is small, shy, young, protected unsure and selfish. Christina Ricci as Selby is also quite good. The relationship between the two has come out quite well. The fact that they are lesbian gets lost somewhere in the larger picture of Lee s life. Lee is desperate to connect with a human being, man or woman is not so important.

I feel that Selby was also quite responsible in pushing Lee again into prostitution. When Lee killed first she was quite reluctant to go back, probably she feared she would do it again. But Selby accuses her of not trying to take care of her when she herself is not contributing anything for the daily bread. When Lee is not able to get any other job, and Selby does not even try, things take a turn for the worse. On top of Selby wants a house on the beach! To me, Selby looks rather selfish and I really doubt how much she cared for Lee. Even when Lee is caught and talks to Selby from prison, Selby has spent all the money given to her. But at this point I guess Selby had no choice as she wants to lead a normal life and only way out was to help the law.

This movie has a lot of violence and explicit language and scenes but I cannot imagine how else it could have been made given the subject. It also is a very grim movie with all those murders. On the whole the movie looks balanced. Lee s character is portrayed such that we can feel for her yet at no level they try to justify the murders.

So folks, this is definitely a movie worth watching but let me say again it is a grim movie, not to be watched when all you want is a distraction. Keep it away from children. Not suitable for them at any age.