Without a doubt one of the most talked-about films of the year, Monster’s Ball was very divisive among critics. Some critics, like Roger Ebert, called it the best film of the year, while others said it was a worthless piece of garbage. My opinion of the film lies somewhere between the two, but leaning a bit more towards the first one. Monster’s Ball certainly deserves a viewing by every serious movie lover but how you feel about it may vary depending on your political and social beliefs and your feelings about the one controversial scene in the film. The story follows two individuals, both battling enormous personal issues. Hank (Billy Bob Thornton) is a death row prison guard whose son (Heath Ledger) has just committed suicide in front of him and whose father (Peter Boyle) is so overbearing that Hank complies just to get some peace. Leticia (Halle Berry) is a waitress at a local diner who works overtime every night just to make ends meet and whose husband (Sean “P. Diddy” Combs) was recently executed for a murder. She also has a son who is so obese he is in danger of having a heart attack. The film contains some of the finest acting of our generation and Halle Berry certainly earned her Best Actress Oscar that she received for her role in this film. I do not cry often at movies (this was one of only two that I cried at this year) but I was moved to tears during the seen in the hospital when Halle Berry loses it. Her despair is so real and complete that I could not help but hurt for her. One of the only things keeping this film out of the top ten is the questionable scene I mentioned earlier. It occurs when Hank and Leticia reach out to each other, not out of passion but out of need, and break into a very graphic and gratuitous sex scene. If you have ever seen Life is Beautiful then you know that sex can be implied without even a kiss being shown, so such gratuitous visuals are just added in this case for titillation and ticket sales. To me, this compromises the integrity of the movie and the length of the scene really removes me as a viewer from the story. There were a few other problems I had with the film, such as the very ambiguous ending, but more often than not it is a very artfully-made and incredibly well-acted piece of film and will be fodder for critics for years to come.