A harrowing tale of a prostitute's life in hell.

Rating: 8/10 (8 March 2008)

I'm puzzled why this story and film has the title it has. Properly defined, monster means, among other things, a person who generates horror through the commission of wicked or evil deeds. Hence, that title sounds misplaced, I think, when considering the actual life and times of the prostitute, Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron), who went about the Florida freeways killing her tricks, before being arrested in 1990. Granted, she did commit heinous crimes, but so did Ted Bundy and many other male serial killers who were much worse than anything Aileen did.
According to the narrative, her first murder was in self-defense; the obnoxious and dangerous trick who picked her up was apparently intent on killing her. She found his gun and popped him, thus saving her own life. Aileen, however, was no sociopath, the true monsters in our societies; after the deed, she felt relief, anger, a touch of remorse and not a little fear of being caught. At that point, there was no thought of repeating her effort.
A stronger personality and intelligence would have stopped there, taken stock of her situation, and decide to fade away as quickly and as far as possible. Unhappily for Aileen  and additional unsuspecting johns  she had neither the personality, nor intelligence nor money to change her mode of living: she'd been ground down since the age of thirteen and worked as a freeway hustler for years. Quite simply, the culture in which she lived helped to create and maintain the person she became...
It's the oldest profession, of course, so I'm not saying that it wasn't her fault, especially the final heart-rending murder of an old guy (Scott Wilson) who just wanted to help her. Having seen her face, however, she had to kill him to survive and Theron's performance at this point is beyond comparison. I'd have given her the Oscar just for those few minutes. But, she was astounding throughout the entire film.
Her unraveling begins, however, when she meets Selby (Christina Ricci) and the two become infatuated with each other, sexually and emotionally. Aileen, of course, has been loveless for most of her adult life, so the interest Selby shows in her is a new and exciting experience. So, when Aileen killed her first john in self-defense, she wanted to quit hooking and try to lead a normal life: get a real job, do it right, live with her new love in 'married' bliss. Hence, she tries: applying for all sorts of jobs for which she is totally unqualified. Her quest for respectability is totally crushed, however, when she's forced to return a favor to a corrupt cop.
So, when she finally needed more money to feed herself, Selby and their life together, she took the easy way out: instead of getting paid for sex, she decided to kill the messenger. All of them. After the first murder, the second is always easier, so it is said. Hence, from that point on, she approaches, but doesn't encompass, the essence of the film's title.
It's a sad story, of course, for many reasons. The saddest part, from my perspective, is that there are other Aileen Wuornoses out there, in just about every country in the world. And, it only needs a trigger to set another in motion again on a self-destructive and murderous path.
It's a superb production, although somewhat hasty in its cuts and scene changes, I thought. However, it was shot over twenty-eight days, with multiple scenes on some days, so it must have been hectic trying to collapse the last nine months of Aileen's life on the road into just over a hundred minutes of film.
Not recommended for children, of course. But recommended for all adults who aren't afraid to see the sordid face of all societies.