DVD Review Monster’s Ball: Is Halle Berry`s Sexually Explicit Movie Progress Or A Step Backwards For Black Women In Hollywood?

First, let me say congratulations to Halle Berry for having a successful delivery and giving birth to a healthy baby girl. Halle must be thrilled right now she’s always wanted to have a child. I am sure Halle will be a wonderful loving and caring mother. Although, some people think I don’t like Halle Berry this is simply not true. I believe  Halle is a solid actress one of her performances was in the television film “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge” for HBO.

Eighty three year old Ruby Dee, was nominated for her performance in the film “American Gangster” she didn’t win. I was shocked this was Ruby Dee’s first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. I think it is such a disgrace that Ruby Dee wasn’t nominated for her electrifying performance in the 1961 classic film “A Raisin In The Sun.”

I started to think to myself what is Halle Berry’s appeal really all about? Obviously, Berry is a very attractive woman I’m not blind. My questions refer more about Halle Berry’s acting abilities. Halle Berry definitely takes risks in her roles more risks then other black actresses. I applaud Halle for taking challenging roles for pushing the conventional thinking about black woman. Halle Berry’s most controversial and perhaps the one she won an Oscar for was for Monster’s Ball. Halle’s acting in Monster’s Ball is superb you see the layers, the complexity the feelings of anguish, sadness, grief, regret, pain, and finally acceptance of her character’s circumstances.

I also believe Halle Berry benefited at being at the right place at the right time. Prior to winning the best actress Oscar, Berry was already the top actress of colour in Hollywood. The best actress Oscar win simply cemented Halle Berry’s A list status. The question is, will another black woman ever win best actress Oscar? Does it even matter? Should we care? Or is the bigger issue the lack of dramatic roles for black women? The Oscars appear to me to be more about politics then about the actual craft of acting.

In the year 2002, the Academy had heard for years that talented black actors weren’t winning Oscars. The Academy killed two birds with one stone giving the best actor and actress Oscars to Denzel Washington and Halle Berry. I cringe when people say this is progress. I am not so sure. Denzel’s character in “Training Day” was a crooked cop. Halle Berry’s character in Monster’s Ball comes across as a whore willing to do anything to move up the social ladder.

Some of the the criticism for Monster’s Ball, is the fact, many people believe Halle’s character Leticia Musgrove should of went to a less sexually attractive actress. I will admit seeing Halle even without make up on she still looks glamorous even though she’s not supposed to be. It makes sense that Billy Bob Thorton’s character the racist prison guard Hank would want to have sex with Leticia. Althoughm Hank is a racist he is still a red blooded man with raging hormones.

The part of Monster’s Ball I don’t believe, is how quickly Hank “falls in love” with Leticia it doesn’t make sense to me. Was it love or just lust? How can a man in middle age suddenly transform so quickly from being a racist bigot to falling in love with a black woman? Why did Hank send his racist father to the nursing home after insulting Leticia? I doubt this would occur in the real world.

After, Leticia’s husband is executed, she is struggling to pay her bills. Leticia she is forced to leave her apartment and Hank decides to help her. The question is why? What was Hank’s real motivation? I wondered why didn’t the movie explore this a bit more? Didn’t Leticia have any family or friends or any connection to the black community? Leticia appeared isolated from the black community?

Perhaps, this was the screenwriter’s true motivation the fantasy that a black woman needs to be saved by a white man in order to have a better life? The screenwriter’s real motivation also is to cheapen a black actress force her to perform in a degrading and racist sex scene for shock value. Hank doesn’t appear to me as a noble or nice man. He just looks like a racist old man that wanted to exploit a beautiful black woman since she was was vulnerable and in danger.

Heath Ledger has a small but important role in Monster’s Ball his character Sonny. Ledger’s character is a sensitive young man, he works with his father at the prison. Heath Ledger was an attractive guy he easily could of been Halle’s love interest in Monster’s Ball. I think Berry and Ledger becoming a romantic couple in this movie would of made more sense. Sonny is depressed, he feels unloved, he sleeps with prostitutes because he cannot make a connection to a woman in the mainstream world. Sonny also feels unloved by his racist father Hank. I think it would of made more sense if Heath Ledger’s character Sonny fell in love with Leticia because Sonny wasn’t a racist.

Billy Bob Thorton is simply too repugnant, unattractive, and old for the leading man role. It just didn’t seem right that Leticia would fall in love with such an unappealing old guy. Monster’s Ball would of been a more interesting movie if Sonny and Leticia fell in love because they are closer in age and Sonny appeared to to be more open about interracial romance. Sonny was just insecure and weak he followed his father Hank because he was desperate for his approval and love. Sonny wasn’t a racist. Sonny commits suicide right in front of his father Hank and his racist grandfather.

Leticia’s son also dies in a tragic accident. Next, the media and public focus shifts to the intense sex scene between Berry and Thorton. The sex scene seems to me purely for shock value a way to gain publicity for the film and it worked. I am sure millions of heterosexual men flocked to the movie theaters because they can see sex symbol Halle Berry naked in her full glory. Leticia Musgrove is reduced to the pernicious stereotype of being a whore. In Hollywood, black women are stereotyped two ways, the black woman is sterotyped as  either the maid or the whore.

The quandary is, the sex scene reduces Berry’s character Leticia to a filthy whore. Leticia screeches the famous line “make me feel good” with a sneer. I can understand why some black men were so enraged with the sex scene. The question has to be asked, does a black woman have to reduce herself in a licentious nude sex scene to win Oscar? Is this really progress?

When was the last time you saw Angelina Jolie in an intense interracial sex scene with With Smith? Can a leading black male actor have an explicit sex scene with a top white actress and win an Oscar? Can Terrence Howard have an intense sexual scene with Jennifer Aniston or Julia Roberts and receive critical acclaim? The answer is never because that’s never going to happen. Hollywood is all about white male dominance and white heterosexual men will never allow leading white women to have black male love interests.

Would a white actress that is considered beautiful have an intense, nude sex scene, with a black man and receive critical acclaim? Charlize Theron and Will Smith have a movie coming out this year called Hancock and according to reports there is an interracial love theme in this movie. Hancock is going to be a comedy it is not a drama. Theron is an A list white actress actress she is considered to be one of the most beautiful and talented women in Hollywood. Will Smith is A list the most powerful man in Hollywood and he is black. The question is despite Will Smith’s crossover success will Hancock be a success with the black and white audiences? How intense will the movie’s interracial theme be?

The sex scene in Monster’s Ball was meant to be fractured to be awkward, to illustrate two anguished souls smashing together for comfort. At the same time, Halle Berry’s sex appeal was exploited to lure in the male audience and create a buzz for the movie. Monster’s Ball reduces Leticia Musgrove to being a prostitute. Angela Bassett slammed the character Leticia Musgrove in a famous interview with Newsweek magazine. Bassett said she was not impressed with the character Leticia Musgrove because she believes it stereotypes black female sexuality.

The relationship between Leticia and Hank is basically a transaction it is a form of prostitution. Hank, the older white man, wants Leticia’s body because she is young and pretty. Hank will allow Leticia to live with him if she has sex with him. Since Leticia has no money, she offers her body to Hank for shelter. Hank also has a higher social status then Leticia she benefits from this as well. But where is the love? I didn’t feel that either character truly loved each other. I will give Halle Berry credit for taking on a role that despite the controversy. Berry’s acting is very strong, you really do believe Leticia is in a lot of pain. Monster’s Ball was the last big dramatic movie role for a black actress and that was over seven years ago. The paucity of leading lady roles for black women is still very rare. Think about it, when was the last time you went to a movie theater and saw a black actress in a serious dramatic piece as the leading lady?