Complex script, great acting- but highly fictionalized

Rating: Null/10 (24 January 2004)

"Monster" is a great film, very well written & acted...but it is really NOT the story of Eileen Wuornos. If you know the facts, you will be disappointed, so I suggest that you just view the film as a study of how a dysfunctional life can lead to hatred, madness & rationalized murder.
Eileen Wuornos, as portrayed in this movie, is much more sympathetic than her real-life counterpart seemed to be. Because we see intimate, unknowable moments dramatized on the screen, a "character" begins to take shape, a very sympathetic-but-ruthless character.
The love story between the two women is largely fictional. The "waif" nature of her lover (Christina Ricci's character) is highly an invention, as is her helpless, jobless lesbian identity. In reality she was working as a hotel maid and GAVE UP her job to let Wuornos support her as a prostitute. When the killings began, Eileen Wuornos was very up front and matter-of-fact about them to her real lover (who merely asked to be kept in the dark about them so that she wouldn't feel guilty and thus the urge to turn Eileen in).
Many things have been smoothed over to make the film's character sympathetic to the audience. This is handled very well in the film; in fact, the script seems to address just about every argument one could make about Eileen Wuornos' character. There is a telling scene with Eileen's only constant friend (played by the great Bruce Dern) about the nature of "blaming" circumstance for our inevitable actions.
I highly recommend this film, but if you really want to know more about the reality, I suggest searching the 'Net for the true details.