Spot on

Rating: 8/10 (16 November 2006)

The cinemas often seem to be over-run by films depicting implausible female serial killers with unusual sex lives as inhuman monsters. But this film is actually based on a true story, and in spite of its title, never reduces its central character to sub-human status. Indeed, anyone who has seen the documentary films Nick Broomfield made about Aileen Wuornos during her time on Death Row will be struck by how precisely Charlize Theron has captured her voice, her physical presence, and quite a lot of her character, although she never quite manages to represent the full extent of Wournos' madness, which is perhaps slightly suppressed in order to allow the film to bear at least some resemblance to a more normal story. Still, this is a tough and brave movie, actually interested in understanding how something as terrible as the events it depicts could have happened, and worth watching although unquestionably grim.