Here, Thornton plays Hank Grotowski, a senior corrections officer at a prison ostensibly placed in Georgia. Hank supervises a team of officers, which includes his son Sonny (Heath Ledger), and which is assigned to carry out the electric chair execution of a black convict. (Incidentally, a "monster's ball" is defined as the party thrown for a prison guard before he attends at his first execution.) Living with Hank at home is his aging, physically debilitated and venomously racist father, Buck (Peter Boyle), formerly a prison guard also.

The wife of the man to be executed is Leticia, played by Halle Berry. She's gamely trying to pay the rent and keep the car running by working as a waitress, and is raising an overweight son whom she sharply disciplines in an attempt to get him to stop eating everything in sight. (Leticia is convinced that fat, black men don't have a chance in America.)

Both Hank and Leticia are leading separate lives of quiet - and sometimes not so quiet - desperation, each being psychologically and emotionally dragged under by circumstances and taxing personal relationships. Then, in a series of traumatic events over a short period of time, each is cut free of burdens and left, through serendipitous accident, with only each other.

MONSTER'S BALL contains several volatile scenes of emotions on the rawest of edges, and which will keep the viewer riveted. Thornton and Berry both give exemplary performances as two people in unlikely company coming to grip with personal demons. As fair warning to the sensitive, the film incorporates episodes of intense sexuality.

Thornton has become one of my favorite actors, and this is the first time I've seen Berry in any role. I liked this movie very much, and would be hard pressed to choose between it and IN THE BEDROOM for this year's Best Picture Academy Award.

Instead, I saw a tight, economical script with an amazing performance by Halle Berry. Undoubtedly, people will nit-pick about Berry's work in the film, but beat by beat, her Leticia was one of the most physically and emotionally challenging roles of the year. For the most part, she was up to the task and clearly demonstrated that she's a serious actress. One can debate whether or not she deserved an Oscar for her work, but she definitely gave an Oscar calibre performance.

Billy Bob Thornton was also deserving of an Academy Award nomination (although he didn't receive one) for his complex role as Hank. He played it honestly and fearlessly.

Also of note was Mos Def's performance in the film. It was finely shaded and understated. He's definitely an actor to watch.

However, despite these and other fine performanes in the film (Peter Boyle is another example), what really impressed me about this film was its script. All too often, writers seem compelled to explain every detail about a character, so that the audience "gets it." Fortunately, with MONSTER'S BALL, the writers assume that the audience has some level of intelligence.

In this film, one gets more with just a look on a character's face than would be accomplished in ten pages of expositional dialog. The screenplay deservedly was nominated for both an Oscar as well as an Independent Spirit Award.

Another thing that was refreshing about this film was that it didn't shy away from its controversial subject matter. It deals with issues of class, race, sexuality and relationships with an honesty that most filmmakers shy away from today. This of course will not sit well with the easily offended or those that refuse to believe that racism still exists in America. Given the casting of Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton in the key roles, some may not accept that the characters they played could get together romantically. Like it or not, relationships like this can and do exist and will continue to do so. If you get anything out of the film, it should be that relationships in general are spontaneous, unpredictable and often defy logic.

Overall, MONSTER'S BALL is a challenging film that is often difficult to watch (and not always for the obvious reasons). If you're looking for a film that forces one to confront what we fear in ourselves, this one is it.