Brilliant acting... yet a disturbing movie.

Rating: 7/10 (1 March 2005)

Aileen Wuornos was an obnoxious character. A highway prostitute by profession, she was ugly and foul-mouthed. She is considered to be the first female serial killer in the US. In this movie one of the most beautiful women in the world, Charlize Theron played this character and how. Hers is perhaps the most powerful acting performance by an actress I have ever seen (Hilary Swank in 'Boys don't cry' comes close). The make-up effect was extra-ordinary. How can one not mention those eyebrow-less large eyes and that flabby pimpled face, totally different from Charlize's own? And she just defined the character. She put on weight, brought out that small-town accent, that careless gait. Her Oscar win was totally obvious, now I see. And the other female character, Aileen's teenage lesbian friend Selby, was also totally awesome. This is Christina Ricci's best too. She perhaps deserved a nomination.
Apart from acting, the movie is disturbing. I beg to differ from the common opinion. I think the movie is not brilliantly made. I've seen enough movies with disturbing and controversial basic theme but many of them are so superbly made that watching them never becomes tiresome. Here I got bored in the middle. Had it been not Charlize Theron, I would have probably change the channel. All the tortures on Aileen or all the murder scenes somehow lack art. This is not a movie I would watch a second time. Only because of acting and its superior screenplay I'd give it 4/5.