In each of us there beats a heart of darkness...

Rating: Null/10 (10 April 2006)

In one of the most unexpected cinematic performances of the past decade, the naturally beautiful actress Charlize Theron has metamorphosed herself into a troubled and not particularly glamorous prostitute in director Patty Jenkin's "Monster" (2003).
"Monster" (2003) dramatizes the heinous acts committed by Aileen Wuornos, a Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer. Aileen's story is both tragic and repulsive: a testament to our cruel world in which good and evil are often the same. The cruelty of this world and the effect it has upon Aileen would not have been conveyed so powerfully if not for the heartfelt performance of Charlize Theron.
Some critics may assert that Theron's changed external appearance for the character is the key to her depiction of Aileen. I would disagree. Much like the performances of Lon Chaney, the make-up itself -- shaved eyebrows, dark contacts, latex eyelids, an obtrusive mouthpiece and spray-on skin blemishes -- are merely the finishing touch on a powerful, haunting emotional performance that sears the viewer's memory.
And no more memorable is the performance of Christiana Ricci. Ricci has been typecast as the oddball character or the cutting ingénue in past films, but her performance here as a repressed suburbanite with no friends due to her overt homosexuality is downright inspired and is perhaps unfairly overshadowed by the gripping performance of Theron. However, no amount of great acting can overcome a poor screenplay or story. Thankfully, "Monster" is quite compelling in this department.
Based on actual events, the plot of the film is fairly straightforward: An emotionally and physically abused individual, Aileen (Charlize Theron), seeks companionship with Selby, a moonstruck lesbian. Although Aileen is not a homosexual, her lifelong loneliness and brutal experiences with males compel her to seek an emotional haven in Selby's arms as another female outcast. In return, Aileen unknowingly infuses Selby with the free will and raw authority Aileen wields in every situation. In need of money, Aileen begins sporadically murdering the clients she attracts while soliciting.
Now, I have conducted no research whatsoever as to whether this film is accurate to the actual story or historical personages it is based upon. However, as a piece of cinema, the film evocatively captures both the quaintness and bleakness of gas stations, the depressing loneliness of cheap motel rooms and the gloomy, never-ending stretches of interstate highways which project as a whole an oppressive sense of inescapable despair.
This disturbing film represents a newer, truer, darker and grittier strain of cinema that unflinchingly explores the mercilessness of our society and the nonreturnable, often miserable, lives we are given. It contains no heroic ending or fairy-tale fluff, but stark reality spoon-fed in large gulps.