Monstrous

I finally watched Monster last night. I'm glad I waited until it was out on DVD because I don't think I would have enjoyed being that horrified, disgusted, and just generally disturbed in a public theater.

I remember reading a review of the film when it first came out, and the male reviewer was on his soapbox, decrying the movie as a feminist attempt at justifying a serial killer, writing "the very act of Theron playing Wuornos doesn’t 'humanize' her—it valorizes her." I disagree. I wasn't watching Charlize Theron play Aileen Wuornos; after the first five minutes, I forgot it was Charlize Theron, because there was no trace of her to be found. Her beauty was completely submerged under the ugliness of this woman's life. Wuornos was a killer; the movie doesn't hide that, but it does give a context (which is not an explanation or a justification) to acts which are incomprehensible. In the end, Wuornos is a monster, and we've witnessed how she became one. We've seen the very human emotions which fueled her actions. Perhaps we have to acknowledge the humanity in even the seemingly most inhumane creatures, or we lose a little of our own.