Monster's Ball
Monster's Ball is a 2001 American romantic drama film directed by German-Swiss director Marc Forster and starring Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, and Heath Ledger. The film tells the story of a poor Southern woman who falls for a widowed prison-guard after the execution of her husband.
Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her leading performance, and, as of 2015, is the only African-American woman to do so.
Plot
Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton), a widower, and his son, Sonny (Heath Ledger), are corrections officers in a local state prison. They reside in Georgia with Hank's ailing father, Buck (Peter Boyle), a racist whose wife committed suicide.
Hank as a deputy warden oversees the execution of convicted murderer Lawrence Musgrove (Sean Combs). As explained to Sonny by Hank, at the diner bar the night before, the movie title is what the execution team calls that night's get-together. The proceedings prove too intense for Sonny, who begins to vomit and then collapses as he is leading Lawrence to the electric chair. Hank confronts Sonny in the jail's bathroom afterwards and slaps him for being so "soft" and ruining a man's last walk. At home, Hank attacks Sonny in his bed and tells him to get out of the house. Sonny grabs a gun, and threatens his father, who backs off. The confrontation ends in their living room with Hank at gunpoint, lying on the carpet, and Sonny in Buck's customary chair. Sonny asks his father if he hates him. After his father calmly confirms that he does and always has, Sonny responds, "Well I always loved you," and then shoots himself in the heart. Hank subsequently buries Sonny in the back garden with no real funeral because, as Buck observes, "He was weak." Hank subsequently quits his job, burns his uniform in the backyard, and locks the door of Sonny's room.
