No way an angel, but it's Charlize all the way

(Review of film "Monster" by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan)



There are a few characters who plead to be brushed

aside. And if you have watched her previous films,

Charlize Theron’s roles would perfectly fit the bill.

Her presence is in all her previous movies was just

that – a presence - and was easily replaceable.

Whether it was doing cartwheels on the beach and

leading a chic lifestyle in ‘Sweet November’ – apart

from devoting one month to each of her boyfriends – or

a sweet goody-two-shoes in ‘Cider House Rules’ or even

a paranoid wife in Devil’s Advocate – whose sole

purpose is to get a supernatural vision – we hardly

bother. So it’s no wonder that the recurring theme

when the Oscar nominations were announced was,

‘Charlize who’.



And then we realize Charlize why, when we see

‘Monster’. No goody maneuvers here as she crisply

slips into the character of Aileen Wuornos, a

prostitute who killed seven of her clients, was

famously branded as ‘America’s first female serial

killer’ and was convicted in Florida in 2002.

Ironically, the witness who gives the evidence against

her is her lesbian lover, Selby Wall (Christina

Ricci), and for whose love Aileen was willing to go to

any extent.



A miserable childhood riddled with fantasies of

stardom; of true love and a fretting for the ideal

guy. All this result in Aileen turning into a

hitchhiking hooker - a deeply frustrated one – and

takes her to point where she has just five dollars and

seriously contemplating suicide. That’s when she meets

Selby, in a gay bar.



It’s ironic that Aileen, who has fantasized about men

all her life, would ultimately find her ideal partner

in Selby, an ideal example of muddled adolescence. At

the same time Aileen has a terrible experience –

ending in murder - with a man who acts like a john but

actually tries to rape and kill her. Completely

shaken, Aileen wants to lead a respectable life and

give up the ways of the street once and for all. But

after some humiliating interview experiences and

Selby’s constant nagging for a fun and party life, she

is left with no choice.



Back to the ways of the street, but this time of blood

and gore. As a paranoid response to the rape-attempt,

she unleashes her anger on her clients. She takes

their money, traps them semi-naked – pretty much a

point of no return – and then shoots them with

cold-blooded venom. With that money, and her client’s

car on most occasions, she keeps Selby happy as they

swing through clubs and bars of Florida. The tough act

of oscillating from a psychotic killer to a loving

girlfriend within such a short period of time is

executed without the viewer even noticing. And

Charlize pulls it off with a fantastic swagger -

pushing her hair back with machismo, puffing a

cigarette with eyes askance, and spewing profanity at

one and all.



The most disappointing aspect about the movie is how

Ricci (Selby) dampens the intensity with her inept

performance. There are occasions when Aileen is

desperately traumatized, when Selby chooses to contort

her face into a apparently confused state and utters

some powerful statements insipidly. In this case,

Selby will probably be the character being brushed

aside by many.



Inevitably, Aileen gets caught, when she is looking

for some change to make a phone call, and gets her due

from the jury. But the enduring moment is when she is

captured outside a bar, surrounded by cops and she

wails out, ‘I just want to call my girl’.



The phenomenal face-change that Toni G has given

Charlize and her ability to sustain the intensity

lives on once the movie is done. There are shades of

Hilary Swank, winner of the best actress award in 2000

for her role as a cross-dressing teenager in ‘Boys

Don’t Cry’. Swank’s performace was described by the

New York Times as “a bleak slice of American life that

leaves a bitter aftertaste”. Charlize's deliverence

isn’t too far behind.