a single moment

My toe is definitely on the mend, but it was a good night nonetheless to pile the kitties on top of me and pop in a DVD, in this case my first-ever viewing of Monster's Ball.  I had completely forgotten Heath Ledger is in it, and actually his and Mos Def's relatively minor characters were my favorites.  But the center story of the relationship that develops between Billy Bob Thornton's corrections officer and Halle Berry's waitress is pretty sweet as well, and to me was less a message about overcoming racism than about working through the damage we carry.  Sure there was some trite dialogue, but director Marc Forster (who also has done Stranger Than Fiction, Finding Neverland and mmm hmmm Quantum of Solace) skillfully emphasizes the subtle moments in which everything can change.  I also appreciated the humanity granted to the death row inmate played by Sean Combs, a man punished for his worst moment.  A meditation on our prison system's policy of judgment and incarceration instead of rehabilitation could have been a whole movie all on its own.