Powerful and Unsettling

Rating: Null/10 (3 May 2004)

I haven't seen a more powerful film since Bully. All powerful films I count as the best are anything by Larry Clark till I saw Monster. I know the story as I saw the fantastic documentary by Nick Bloomfield about Aileen Wuormos on Death Row, but when seeing the film it looked or the more real and disturbing. However we don't really know the truth do what actually happened. All we know is what she said and that's it. I am not saying what happened to her was right because it is anything and everything but that but we have to look at all the directions of this story to know what really is the truth. Nick Bloomfield said she was `mad' when talking to the press in his documentary and I think he clearer to the truth than we are ever going to get. Her childhood was never the best and obviously scared her for life and made her think that there was no way out even when trying to find one. The scene where she has tried to get a job and told that there would only be factory work for her and causes a stir and a policeman picks her up and just uses her in the same way other men do and that is treating her like a whore. So in that respect she never could trust anyone because they were all the same to her even in the eyes of the law.

The film is just not about her killing spree but her friendship that she made with a young lesbian girl named Shelby. Shelby played by Christina Ricci is a loner and lives in a very strict religious family that tries to cure her from being a homosexual. This is how Shelby and Aileen meet in a bar where Shelby is sitting on her till she sees Aileen. At first they are not the best of friends but the friendship blossoms and before you know they are the best of friends but are still unaware of their sexuality towards each other. The chemistry between them is electric and there is always scenes where you think this and that is going to happen. The story flows nicely without any boring scenes happening and I believed that Naomi Watts was more deserving of the Oscar but after seeing Monster I do now believe that Charlize Theron was better off to get it. De Niro set the standard for male actor's when getting into character for like he did in Raging Bull and Theron has done it for female leads as she really did look like a true monster in the film. Not being bias or anything it's just when you look at her in The Devil's Advocate and The Italian Job you think `Hello' but in Monster it's more like `Right!!!'. Well that's what I think but fair do's to Theron for pulling that off and an amazing performance to go with it which is why she deserves her praise.
The shock factor of the film is higher than usual especially when she meets her first victim in which an object is used on her in the most horrific and terrifying scene I have seen for a long time and with Theron's excellent performance it pulls it off to make you feel really uneasy about this film. It's such a tragic story of somebody who could not be saved from her downfall but it's uplifting to see that she always believed in what she told the world and she was not afraid to admit to what she did but people didn't see it from her point of view. Because there are truth's and lies about what really happened I would have preferred to have not seen any of her killing's. I would have liked to have seen instead her in the situation with the men that she was with and then for the scene to finish for it to go back after it has all happened so you have to make your own mind up whether she was just a cold blooded killer or a damsel in distress and just defended her rights and did what she had to do.
This is a great directorial debut from Patty Jenkins and if she approaches her films to come the way she with Monster then we have a lot to look forward to. As for the movie it is a very powerful portrayal of Aileen Wuornos and the amazing story that made her being officially none as the first female serial killer but we are not Hannibal Lector here but a more real to life and truthful story of struggle and normality.