persuasive sexist excercise...

Rating: Null/10 (19 July 2004)

I must admit that I knew what I was going to get when I sat down to watch Monster.. not because anyone had told me but because I know Hollywood and the kind of films it puts out. I didn't know that the writer-director was a woman but I wasn't surprised. What was surprising was how persuasive the film was..which is unfortunate in some ways because it's attempt to portray Wurnos's story as a love story is embarrassing when you know the facts. Theron does give an excellent performance and look remarkably like Wurnos'... I just can't figure out why they couldn't make Ricci up to look more like her real life counterpart. It is this kind of intellectual dishonesty ( like leaving out that Wurnos killed most of her victims by posing as a disabled motorist in need of help) that truly mark the film. How fascinating that America's first female serial killer turns out to really be a victim herself...how could it have been any other way? How sexist... unless of course the director is thinking of making a film about the family friend who repeatedly raped Wurnos when she was 8 with the same kind of empathy. Fat chance!!!