Everybody's a critic - 'Monster's Ball'

HHH 1/2

"Monster's Ball" is a gritty, spare movie about a corrections officer (Billy Bob Thornton) and the wife (Halle Berry) of a prisoner (Sean Combs) the officer helps execute.

I have rarely seen a film in which there is so little love and so much need.

From the execution to the ending, where Berry as Leticia expertly portrays her misgivings, this film demands mature attention.

Hank, the corrections officer, at first doesn't know Leticia's background -- he is just trying to do the right thing. By the time he and Leticia are alone in her house, the pain each is enduring overwhelms them and they seek comfort in each other's bodies. This is a graphic nude scene that is not gratuitous.

Unfortunately, I sat in front of a gaggle of immature, middle-aged women who chatted and giggled through the film. If a movie is more than you bargained for, keep quiet or leave.

- Roberta Beach, nurse