Monster is a scary movie. It’s amazing, and frightening to see Charlize Theron turn into a hard drinking, smoking, prostitute doing what she needs to survive. It’s a reversal of the horror trope that a hooker is the most dispensable person in society. It’s frightening to see a woman driven to murder and sympathize with her as she slips farther and farther away from her humanity. It’s a graphic movie that shows some disturbing stuff. The most disturbing thing about the movie was that the murdering lead character reminded me EXACTLY of an old boss.
When I say, “Reminded me of an old boss,” I don’t mean that the lack of makeup and the sweat pants reminded me how she looked on most days she came to work. Aileen, the killer character really ACTED like my old boss. This woman used to be a manager I had in college. She was one of those managers that was so “outside the box” that you expected something shady was going on the entire time, but couldn’t place your finger on her. It turns out, it was grand theft for my manager, and not murder, but still, seeing this portrayal of a woman driven to the edge was familiar for me.
My old boss had the same swagger and belicose way of talking. She had the same hard smoking habit, and spoke with the same incredibly blatant bit lying that characterized by my old boss’ style. If Charlize Theron wasn’t about half her weight, she would have been a dead ringer appearance for her too.
My wife and I both liked the movie, but were disturbed by it. It’s not an easy movie to watch. My wife hated Christina Ricci’s character more than the Charlize Theron character. That’s an accomplishment. I was more freaked that a person I had nearly forgotten about was brought to life on screen. The things people hide in their lives as they try to scrape by shown in this movie were a reminder that the world isn’t always as nice as we think it was.
