Fridae

Any model-turned-actress who is willing to give up her personal trainer and personal stylist for an entire movie deserves our respect.

Any model-turned-actress who is able to emote and utter her lines with gravitas while looking like a cross between actor John Voight and a burn victim deserves an Oscar.

As the female lead in Monster, Charlize Theron truly deserves both for her breakthrough performance and her willingness to undergo a reverse Extreme Makeover complete with prosthetic teeth, extra cellulite and eyebrows removed using flamethrowers.

Based on a true story, Monster centers around Aileen "Lee" Wuornos, a lesbian serial killer and highway hooker, who was convicted in 1992 and eventually executed in Florida in 2002 for "blowing" men off - sexually and otherwise.

Playing the facially challenged Wuornos, Charlize Theron puts on a perma-frown and Fashion Police attracting outfits to bring to screen Wuornos as a butch strutting figure that would make most tough dykes appear as intimidating as mewing kittens.

Directed by new writer-director, Patty Jenkins, Monster opens with Wuornos sitting under a highway and postponing death by suicide because she decided to spend the last five-dollars she earned for a blowjob on a beer.

Entering a gay bar by mistake, Wuornos meets and bonds with Selby - a lesbian who is banished by her parents to live with her more "wholesome" (read: homophobic) Floridian relatives after showing way too much interest in the womenfolk back in Ohio.

Played by Christina Ricci with her deer-caught-in-the-spotlight look working overtime, Selby unfortunately comes across as being a little too "un-dyke-ish" despite her stonewashed denim jacket and stereotypical lesbian haircut.

Fuelled by their alienation from "proper" society and their hunger for genuine affection, the two women soon found themselves drawn to each other. In the courtship scenes that follow, the audience is treated to bittersweet snapshots of Wuornos' preparing for her date and a let's-hold-hands-and-roller-skate sequence at the local skating rink.

(Note of warning: If you have a low tolerance for lesbian sex, you may wish to avert your delicate eyes during a graphic pussies-in-heat scene at the back alley of the skating rink and an even more graphic sex scene in a run-down motel).

After hitching up with Selby, Wuornos decides to "go clean" only to have to endure a string of humiliating job interviews before going back to prostitution. Unfortunately, she meets with a despicable client Vincent (Lee Tergesen) who proceeds to beat her up and rape her with an iron rod.

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In self-defense, Wuornos turns Vincent into human tomato paste (hurray!) and Monster then spirals into a crime spree of murder-robberies as Wuornos struggles to support an increasingly self-centered Selby and maintain their fa�ade of a life together.

While the palpable distress and the sense of guilt experienced by Wuornos are masterfully conveyed by Charlize, the audience is prevented from completely empathising and sympathising with Wuornos - especially when her victims included a retired cop with a wheel-chair bound wife and a benevolent family man whose only mistake was to extend a helping hand to Wuornos.

As the hooking-then-shooting incidents increase, Monster could have easily degenerated into a free-for-all lesbian slasher flick with a strong male bashing message. After all, Wuornos was sexually abused as a child (because of men!), forced into prostitution (because of men!) and prevented from assimilating back into society through gainful employment (because of men!).

However, by making the wounded love story between Wuornos and Selby its main focus, Monster balances the heinous nature of Wuornos' crimes with an arresting and unflinching portrayal of Wuornos as a lost soul searching for love in all the wrong places.

In the course of the movie, the role society may have played in making Wuornos who she is takes center stage. By casting a spotlight on the characters and circumstances surrounding Wuornos, the "monsters" eventually revealed include not only Wuornos but the men who take advantage of her situation; conservative small town folks who would go to extremes to deny and suppress any expression of homosexuality; "respectable" society who refuse to acknowledge Wuornos' existence; and the selfish and manipulative Selby who betrays Wuornos at the end.

A thought-provoking movie free of the usual Hollywood gloss and a showcase for the breathtaking acting prowess of Charlize Theron who truly deserves her Academy Award win for Best Actress.