Review: Monster
Blu-ray: Monster (2003)
Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) directorial debut is a hard watch. It gives us a slice of Aileen Wuornos – Infamous Floridian prostitute serial killer – live.
As with most biographical films it has to ‘entertain’, so certain liberties are taken with the story (as with Christina Ricci playing her semi-fictionalised lover, Selby Wall who was a character based on Wuornos’s real-life girlfriend Tyria Moore).
You can read about Wuornos life, how her mother was only 15 when she had her, abuse both sexual and physical, abandonment, rape from a very early age – it’s no wonder at all that this woman killed 7 men. Her life was one big fuck-up of violence, rape, and abuse.
At its heart Monster is… sort of… a love story, sort of because Ricci’s Selby, aged around 16 and innocent, also has a devious side to her and Theron’s Aileen is so in need of love and tenderness, she gives in.
This film was made in 2003, and it’s lost none of its power. Theron more than deserved a best actor Oscar for her performance (much was made of this great beauty uglying up for the role) but it’s not just the way she looks – she embodies Wuornos, as far as acting goes Theron is truly amazing.
It’s also a difficult film to gauge, you don’t actually see any rape and a very little violence (except the shootings) Jenkins is sympathetic while being honest about how deranged Wuornos was. Living in a fantasy world believing she could leave her horrible life and get a job as a secretary.
This is a well paced and acted story about a woman whose life was from beginning to end, horrific, and is told with empathy to this serial killer, while not making excuses for her behaviour, but rather shining a light on why she did what she did.
It’s pretty shit being a woman.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Audio Commentary with Writer / Director Patty Jenkins, Actor / Producer Charlize Theron and Producer Clark Peterson
- Making a Murderer: a new interview with Director Patty Jenkins
- Producing a Monster: a new interview with Producer Brad Wyman
- Light From Within: a new interview with DoP Steven Bernstein
- Monster: The Vision and Journey
- Based on a True Story: The Making of Monster
- Deleted and Extended Scenes with Director Commentary
- Monster: Evolution of the Score
- Original Trailer
- English subtitles for the hearing impaired
Limited Edition Contents
- Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Daniel Benneworth-Gray
- Soft cover book with new essays by Anton Bitel, Hannah Strong & Shelagh Rowan-Legg
- 6 collectors’ art cards
Released 15th August 2022 and available to pre-order.
