"The Best Performance By Any Actress"
Terry Richard | Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada | 04/21/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Critics and film audiences applauded Charlize Theron's revivting performance in 2003's "Monster" which documents the real-life incidents of Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who went on a killing rampage in the late eighties and early nineties, eventually murdering 7 men. The film details the torment Aileen went through as a young girl, feeling unloved and abused, to the point that she became a street walker. Instead of feeling hatred for Aileen we feel for her as the movie makes the viewer realize the anger and torment a person goes through to get to the point of becoming a prostitute. Even the fact that she becomes a killer still doesn't make us hate her, as there is one terrifying scene where she is raped and battered by a john in the isolated woods. In order to survive she kills this man, which is the starting off point of her murderous rampage. The film is a lesson for us all as we see how society can be insensitive and crue to people, and its that insensitivity that can eventually make monsters out of people. Theron won a well-deserved Academy Award for her portrayal; in the film she gained 30 pounds and wore fake teeth to alter her Hollywood glamorous look. Most critics, even Roger Ebert, stated that Theron gives the greatest performance of any actress in any year. In one word her portrayal is spellbinding. The blueray comes with the trailer, a featurette, and interviews with Patty Jenkins who wrote the screenplay as well as directed the film."
