Here's my review of Monster. I pretty much reacted to it in a similar way to Josiah.
On a fundamental level, we want to believe that love can conquer all, that no matter how bad our choices, love can redeem us. There is an element of truth in sentiments like these. Perfect love can redeem us no matter how depraved we are. However, our love is far from perfect. But we persistently hope that within our own power, our love can redeem us.
Monster brutally shatters the illusion that no matter how messed up we are, we can still always fix things. Monster is the “based on a true story” story of a washed out prostitute named Aileen (played by this year’s Oscar favorite Charlize Theron). On the brink of suicide under an overpass, Aileen has been stripped of everything, completely degraded. Shortly before pulling the trigger Aileen realizes that she still has 5 dollars left. Having got that money from a John, she decides that killing herself now would be equivalent to giving him one for free. So she goes to a bar to spend that last five.
At the bar, her life changes. She meets Selby (Christina Ricci), a young lesbian. The child-like earnestness and purity of Selby’s character inspires the desire to love again in Aileen. Aileen is redeemed! Her love has made her want not just life but a better one. But the lifetime of prostitution is too much for her to overcome, sinking back into her old ways, she tries to support Selby as a prostitute. But she can’t really make do with her old ways. Ultimately she resources not to pleasuring her John’s, but to killing them, in order to live off their wallets and cars.
If Monster were just a fiction it could emotionally just be dismissed as a morality play. Don’t become a prostitute. Don’t become a lesbian. Don’t kill people. Watch out, there are really crazy people out there. But Monster is based on truth. Aileen’s life is a real one. And here is where we are really challenged. The love Aileen has for Selby is the same love that we all hope to have for another. Strictly on those terms, Aileen is completely normal. But since, she is so incredibly damaged; her love works itself out in horrible ways. This idea that nothing is separate from the taint of fallen ness in this world is a point that cuts to the heart.
do you mean you reacted to it in a similar fashion as I reacted to it, or you reacted to the film like you react to me?
Posted by: JosiahQ at February 18, 2004 10:29 PM"I pretty much reacted to it in a similar way to Josiah." Well I guess you could take this to mean I react to Josiah in the same way I react to this film.
Posted by: matt at February 19, 2004 12:14 AM