Berry's Ball

Last night as I was on my way home, trying to decide where to have my dinner, I suddenly chanced upon the billboard in front of Theatre Djakarta showing the poster of Monster's Ball. I took a look at my watch: it was 7.40pm. I raced up the stairs to the box-office: next show was 7.45pm. Dinner can wait.

Two hours later as I was sitting at the restaurant eating my beef curry, I realised that I have just seen the best movie so far this year. Monster's Ball is the story of a classic bigoted white man of the South, a correction officer in a state penitentiary played by Billy Bob Thornton, and his eventual redemption triggered by the judicial execution of a black man (Sean "Puff" Combs), the death of his tormented son and his unexpected affection for the wife of the condemned man, played by Halle Berry.

The execution and two personal tragedies brought the two characters together; Hank (Billy Bob Thornton) quiting his job at the penitentiary to become a gas station owner, Leticia (Halle Berry), facing eviction from her landlord and working in a diner to make ends meet, crossed paths when Leticia's obese son was killed in a road accident and Hank stopped to help.

The strength of this movie is that it refuses to be seduced by typical Holllywood cliches about relationships and bothers to take time to build up its two main characters at a slow and unhurried pace. But one is never bored throughout the entire movie; the execution scene brings an edgy tension to it and the slowly igniting passion between Hank and Leticia is portrayed with intelligence and great subtlety.

Scenes of Hank eating chocolate ice-cream and coffee at the diner where Leticia works lingers in the mind. Soundtrack is kept to the bare minimum and it is the nuanced acting of Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry that evoked the mood and emotions of plot with great effectiveness. Not surprisingly this was the role that won Halle Berry the Best Actress Oscar last year - the first for a black actress.

I was happy at how the ending was handled too. There was resignation, hope and guilt all mixed in the expression of Leticia as the realisation sank in that Hank was the officer who handled the execution of her late husband. But there was only quiet acceptance and perhaps even peace of mind in the end as Hank said: "We'll be alright".