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Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton), a widower, is employed as a prison guard . Sonny (Heath Ledger) works alongside his father in the family occupation. Both are unable to relate to women. Hank resides with his racist fatherA father is the male parent of a child. Fathers may be categorised according to their biological, social or legal relationship with the child. Historically, the biological relationship paternity has been determinative of fatherhood. However, proof of pate, Buck (Peter Boyle) who is retired, sick and home-bound (and has driven his own wife to suicide). Together Hank and Sonny must assist in the executionExecution is a synonym for the actioning of something, of putting something into effect. the execution of a contract or a financial trade is the point at which it becomes binding. Execution is the act of putting a person to death, according to judicial pr of convicted murderer Lawrence Musgrove (Sean Combs), an event that has repercussions for both men. Later, Hank meets Leticia Musgrove (Halle Berry), Lawrence's widowAlternate uses: see widow (typesetting). A widow is a woman whose spouse has died. A man whose spouse has died is a widower . The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or viduity . Widowhood has been an important social issue, par, who has been struggling for several years to raise son Tyrell, and to make ends meet. Eventually, with each longing for human connection in their grief, Hank and Leticia reach out for one another.
The film won Halle Berry the Academy Award for Best ActressThe Academy Award for Best Actress is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. The winners are chosen despite its graphic depiction of interracial as well as sexual intercourse. Regarding the latter, this was a rare instance in which the Academy awarded a film with sexually explicit content.
However, during a Princeton University conference celebrating the film Imitation of Life in 2000, Berry indicated that she would no longer limit herself in choosing and playing roles, thus breaking a decades-long expectation among African Americans that black actresses refuse to submit to playing nude roles in films.
"Perhaps one of the most affecting performances of the year was given by a 10-year-old Louisiana fourth-grader who has never acted before or studied the craft," commented Variety reporter Christopher Grove. Indeed, many audiences were particularly moved by--and concerned with--the plight of Coronji Calhoun , the youth who played Tyrell Musgrove, the ill-fated son of Lawrence and Leticia. Coronji was chosen from an open casting call, and was paid the minimum union scale for his work. He also suffered demonstrably from obesity, a malady currently affecting increasing numbers of American children regardless of economic circumstances. Tyrell's chocolate addiction was based on his hunger for his absent father. In an feature interview by iofilm.co.uk columnist Paul Fischer, Berry discussed working with Coronji, including the scene where she as Leticia struck him for hiding candy. "Marc (the director) and I were talking to him, saying this is just a movie, and I kept saying, everything I do and say, it's not real. I really think you're wonderful. And he said, 'Well, whatever you do to me, Halle Berry, it isn't going to be worse than what the kids at school do to me.'" On the official Monster's Ball website, Coronji is described as being a normal child who enjoyed playing basketball and video games and liked to dance.
However, the late Raphael Picaud, the founder of a nonprofit youth fitness organization called Fit4Free sought to exploit Coronji's condition by writing an open letter to the producers of Monster's Ball regarding their use of the youngster. Still others hoped that something more could have been done for the boy by giving him a scholarship or a commemorative trust fund for his work. In the Fischer interview, Berry maintained that the boy "is still part of my life."
As Tyrell, Coronji poignantly brought his own experience about being fat, sensitive and artistic to the screen. It's too early to tell whether Coronji, now in his teens, will return to the screen.