Monster Ball

Hank is proud of his rare profession and expects his son Sonny to continue the family dynasty. For several generations, men in their family have been working as executioners , including an electric chair switch during execution. “Monster Ball” - in professional slang means the procedures preceding the very moment of execution. Due to the fact that everything in his life is imposed on his father, Hank hates both him and others, including his own son. Like Hank’s father at one time, Hank himself makes him the executioner of his son, not interested in the opinion of the latter.

But Sonny clearly could not stand it and once, after one of the prisoners, who presented him with his last drawing, was executed, he, shocked by the execution, commits suicide in front of his father. For Hank, this did not seem to be a loss - he never loved his son - but still something inside him changed, as if with the loss of the opportunity to continue the executioners dynasty, Hank’s obligation to do much of what he had done before disappeared.

One day, while driving along a dark alley, he notices a black woman whose car had just hit her son. Hank, who had been instilled in his aversion to blacks since childhood by his father, is still helping a woman named Letizia. Thus, he allegedly begins to "kill monsters" inside himself. He leaves his job, acquires a business, and also falls in love with Letizia, whose son still could not be saved. Hank’s attitude towards others, in particular towards neighbors with a different skin color, is changing for the better. The last "monster" is Hank's father, but the latter sends him to a nursing home, and relocates Letizia to himself.

At the end of the film, Letitia finds among the things of Hank a dying drawing of her executed husband.

The film contains long erotic scenes and a complete exposure of the performer of the role of Letizia - Halle Berry.

• 2003 - BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actress (Halle Berry)
• 2002 - Academy Award for Best Actress (Halle Berry), as well as a nomination for Best Original Screenplay (Milo Addika, Will Rokos)
• 2002 - nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Drama (Halle Berry)
• 2002 - US Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress (Halle Berry)
• 2002 - Nominated for the US Scriptwriters Guild Award for Best Original Screenplay (Milo Addika, Will Rocos)
• 2000 - Silver Bear of the Berlin Film Festival for Best Actress (Halle Berry), as well as the Golden Bear Nomination (Mark Forster)
• 2002 - Nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Original Screenplay (Milo Addika, Will Rokos)
• 2002 - Sputnik Award for Best Original Screenplay (Milo Addika, Will Rokos), as well as 2 nominations: Best Actor - Drama (Billy Bob Thornton), Best Actor - Drama (Halle Berry)
• 2001 - 2 awards from the National Council of Film Critics of the United States : Best Actor (Billy Bob Thornton), Best Actor (Halle Berry), and Top 10 Films of the Year

• Monster Ball on the Internet Movie Database  
• Monster Ball on Rotten Tomatoes
• Monster Ball on allmovie
• Monster Ball at Box Office Mojo