Shattering portrayal of Aileen Wuornos

Rating: 10/10 (8 May 2013)

This film is essentially a straight forward drama about the crimes of Aileen Wuornos. What makes it so special is the absolutely searing performance of Charlize Theron. There has never been a more accurate portrayal of a criminal ever put on film than Theron's version of Wuornos. If anyone has ever watched the documentaries about her, or even seen a small clip on the internet with Aileen, it's hard to deny that Theron completely embodies this woman; her hardships, her tortured life, her paranoid delusions. It's incredible. Both mentally and physically, Theron becomes Aileen Wuornos, as we watch her struggle to try and hold on to whatever life is left inside her. She struggles with a deep love for a woman named Selby, her life as a prostitute, and soon, the lives she takes. It begins with a man who was planning on raping and murdering Aileen after paying for sex with her; she blows him away with a gun, and begins to move along doing the same to other men she believes are like him, stealing whatever she can from them to support herself and Selby. The problem with Wuornos' real case is that she changed her story so many times, for different reasons, that nobody really knows what is or isn't true. In the end, she claimed to hold back her stories about how it was in self defense she murdered these men because Aileen only wanted to get executed, and be done with it; what we see in the film is a mix of fact, and what you might only be able to call myth, as we'll never be sure for certain what really happened to Aileen while she was with those men.
The director makes you feel for Wuornos, but simultaneously you can stand back and see the horror in what she did. It's a mixture of sympathy, and disturbing reality. I give this a 10 out of 10 stars because it was unbelievably amazing how Charlize Theron became Aileen Wuornos. It is a well-directed drama with some other nice little performances by Christina Ricci, as well as smaller roles by the always interesting Bruce Dern, and a favourite of mine (playing a horrid character), Lee Tergesen. I can't recommend this enough. As an avid fan of true crime (more specifically, serial killers and other murders/et cetera), I love this movie, and anyone who shares my taste should absolutely watch this; more than once also, so you can really let the nuances of Theron's performance sink in over time.