Empire Magazine
Forster's poised direction, as well as powerful turns from Billy Bob Thornton and the Oscar-winning Halle Berry, make this compelling viewing.
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Monster's Ball
After a family tragedy, a racist prison guard (Billy Bob Thornton) re-examines his attitudes while falling in love with the African-American wife (Halle Berry in an Oscar-winning role) of the last prisoner he executed.
Best Actress (Berry), Academy Awards 2002
2001Rating: R18+, Adult themes, Medium level sex scenes113 minsUSA
DramaRomance
- Director:
- Marc Forster
- Writer:
- Milo AddicaWill Rokos
- Cast:
- Billy Bob ThorntonHalle BerryHeath LedgerSean Combs
Monster's Ball / Reviews
Chicago Tribune
A serious movie made by seriously talented people, and I never quite came round to it.
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Roger Ebert
The movie has the complexity of great fiction, and requires our empathy as we interpret the decisions that are made.
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Variety
Monster's Ball is bolstered by a poetic, intelligent sensibility not seen in an American film since Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line.
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The New York Times
This is one of those rare movies in which even people glimpsed only for a moment or two seem to have lives that ramify beyond the screen, as if the story were being witnessed rather than dramatised.
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Hollywood Reporter
Given the deliberate scarcity of action and dialogue, the actors are forced to rely heavily upon their interior lives, and more than deliver the goods.
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