The Halle Berry movie Roger Ebert believes should be taught in classrooms
Halle Berry has been in show business long enough to cause quit the stir through her collective body of work, whether it be her controversial role as Catwoman, her work as a director or Oscar-winning performance in Monster’s Ball. After beginning her journey in the industry as a model, the actor then went on to star in films such as Boomerang, Jungle Fever and Die Another Day, becoming a pivotal force within Hollywood as the first Black woman to win an Academy Award for ‘Best Actress’.
Since then, her career has gone from strength to strength while also experiencing some turbulence along the way, becoming associated with an equal number of cinematic flops and achievements, reflecting the ever-evolving beast that is the film industry and the many creative risks that sometimes don’t pay off. However, she has always been recognised for one role that remains as her crowning achievement, with famed critic Roger Ebert citing it as a culturally important film that remains as well of knowledge.
There are many films that should be considered essential viewing, whether it be the trailblazing work of David Lynch, Abbas Kiarostami or Claire Denis and films that have both disturbed and comforted audiences around the world. From Beau Travail and Denis’ portrait of masculinity and repression to Irreversible and Gaspar Noe’s exploration of misogyny and indictment of sexual violence and Julia Ducournau’s explosive commentary on gender identity and expression in Titane, there are many pioneering films that have forever changing the landscape of cinema as we know it, something that Ebert held his own beliefs on.
Despite the fact that many critics have differing opinions on which films should be remembered within the Hollywood hall of fame, there are some that are widely agreed as being both creatively and culturally important. One film that has consistently been cited for these reasons is Berry’s 2001 film Monster’s Ball.
The film follows a prison guard who begins a relationship with the widow of a man he executed, commenting on the lives of two people whose lives are touched by grief and violence. It is a tragic story that explores a dark and harrowing side of humanity, with the central performances from Heath Ledger, Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton accentuating the power of these themes.
While Ebert was a harsh and unmerciful critic, he was also quick to give credit where it was due, having particularly strong words to say about Marc Forsters film. When analysing the project, Ebert wrote, “Students of screenwriting should study the way the film handles the crucial passages at the end, when she discovers some drawings and understands their meaning. Here is where a lesser movie would have supplied an obligatory confrontation. “Monster’s Ball” demonstrates that to explain all its mysteries, a movie would have to limit itself to mysteries that can be explained”.
This is perhaps the highest honour that a critic could bestow on a film and one that has forever cemented the film as one of the most influential and moving from Berry’s body of work.
