Theron executes one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema in a powerful, honest and unsettling picture

Rating: 9/10 (5 August 2008)

Monster (2003)
Top 5 - 2003
Before I start there is one thing I need to say. Bravo to Charlize Theron not only for embodying troubled and disturbed prostitute Aileen Wuornos but also agreeing to do a major film role where she was made to look plain ugly. It was a bold move and it paid off.
This film is the real life story of Daytona Beach prostitute Aileen Wuornos, a troubled, beaten down woman (both physically and mentally) whose unfortunate life drove her to this horrific path of selling her body to survive from the age of 13. The message this film gets across so poignantly is that most of these people who are prostitutes do not go into it as a choice but are forced to be humiliated in order to survive. This is what Monster is all about and much more.
As Wuornos narrates in flashbacks how she was raped at an age of 8 and her struggles as a young kid squeezing her into a corner with no other choice, you start to feel sorry about this unfortunate character.
After a man brutally attacked her after a pick up, Wuornos escapes, shoots him and steals his stuff and car. This is her new way of surviving. She doesn't want to 'hook' anymore she wants a normal life with her naive lesbian friend Shelby an 18 year old girl who ran away from her normal life to be with Wuornos. Ultimately it is Shelby who gives her friend to the police.
Theron's performance is one of the best I have ever seen, deserving of every accolade she received for this honest, physically demanding and unsettling performance. Ricci's performance is also a strong one.
I guess this film wants to say that why we may frown upon prostitution, we should sometimes try to understand the motives behind it and how millions of poor souls result to this tragic fate in order to survive. It is not that Aileen Wuornos, sensationalised by the media as 'America's first serial killer' was really a bad person, it was the environment that made her do the things she did. While I am not excusing the woman's actions I understand to an extent her sheer desperation (from what the film showed me).
An excellent, but depressing film. Gripping, no-nonsense cinema.
8.5/10