Monster’s Ball

Grieving widow Leticia finds solace with lonely prison guard Hank Grotowski. He is mourning the death of his boy Sonny, who shot himself after a row with his dad. What Leticia doesn’t know is that Hank supervised the execution of her husband Lawrence. Moving, Oscar-winning drama., Billy Bob Thornton plays Hank Grotowski, a prison guard whose son, who works on the prison’s death row, commits suicide. Grotowski spirals into depression until one night he helps Leticia Musgrove’s injured son. When he too dies, the couple are united by their grief, but as their relationship develops, he learns he and his son were party to the execution of her husband. Berry won an Oscar for her stunning performance in Marc Forster’s gripping drama., Director Marc Forster, winner of Best Feature at Slamdance for his debut film Loungers (1996) and the “Someone to Watch” Independent Spirit Award for his indie drama Everything Put Together (2000), follows up those acclaimed projects with this intense, racially charged romance. Billy Bob Thornton stars as Georgia prison guard Hank Grotowski, a hard-drinking racist ex-cop whose father, Buck (Peter Boyle), is dying of emphysema and whose son, Sonny (Heath Ledger), works the execution detail at the prison’s death row. When Sonny commits suicide, Hank is devastated and quits his job, spiraling into a deep depression until, one night, he comes to the aid of Leticia (Halle Berry), a beautiful African-American woman whose son, Tyrell (Coronji Calhoun), has been hit by a car. When Tyrell dies, Leticia and Hank find themselves to be unexpected soul mates linked together by tragic grief. It’s not long before Hank discovers that Leticia is the widow of Lawrence Musgrove (Sean Combs), the man whose execution by electric chair he and his late son helped to orchestrate. Monster’s Ball (2001) is based on a screenplay by actors Milo Addica and Will Rokos, who spent five years developing their script into a feature. Their title refers to the name of an English tradition requiring jailers to throw a party for a condemned man on the night before his death., Billy Bob Thornton plays a prison guard whose son (Heath Ledger), who works on the prison’s death row, commits suicide. Thornton spirals into depression until one night he helps Halle Berry’s injured son. When he dies, the couple are united by grief but as their relationship develops, he learns he and his son were party to the execution of her husband. Berry rightly won an Oscar for her stunning performance in Marc Forster’s gripping drama., Grieving widow Leticia finds solace with lonely prison guard Hank Grotowski. He is mourning the death of his boy Sonny, who shot himself after a row with his dad. What Leticia doesn’t know is that Hank supervised the execution of her husband Lawrence. Drama., Halle Berry won an Oscar for this wrenching tale about a Southerner who falls for a prison guard (Billy Bob Thornton) following her husband’s execution. Buck: Peter Boyle. Sonny: Heath Ledger. Lawrence: Sean Combs. Directed by Marc Forster., Halle Berry’s Oscar-winning performance highlights this wrenching tale about racism, redemption and the power of love. She plays a poor Southerner who falls for a prison guard (Billy Bob Thornton) following the execution of her husband (played by rapper Sean Combs). Peter Boyle, Heath Ledger.