MONSTER (2004)

Rightly deserving of this year's Best Actress Oscar, Charlize Theron gives a magnificent performance as the infamous serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who was executed in 2002 by the State of Florida.

Theron, an ex-model and star of many a two-a-penny Hollywood dross action or comedy movie, finally sheds her vanity and sex symbol image for something far more substantial and far more defining.

She immerses herself into the role so completely that she's virtually unrecognisable, caked in hideous make-up and wearing ragged clothing.

But her performance redeems a movie that feels clumsy in terms of story-telling skills and very heavy-handed in trying to get across its lurid subject matter.

Two accomplished documentaries from British filmmaker Nick Broomfield have tried to explain Wuornous's place in the pantheon of heinous criminals, but her seven-time killing spree wasn't as clear-cut and evil as criminologists and the media would have you believe.

Wuornous was a notorious Florida prostitute turned serial killer- the first female serial killer in history. She was executed for killing seven men with a hand gun, including some local dignitaries and businessmen with high standing in the community.

The film sets about explaining, rather than condoning, her reasons for why she killed so many. She had a hatred of men brought about by countless years of sexual and physical abuse, and, touchingly, she wanted to protect her lover Selby Wall (Christina Ricci).

Although it's hard to see the connection between her hatred of men and wanting to protect her lover, there was no way she would be able to sustain the situation. Wuornos was not a master criminal and she rarely hid her tracks well, so capturing and convicting her for these crimes was only a matter of time.

As well as exploring the sociological and personal reasons for her homicidal tendencies, the film, in linear fashion, shows us how Aileen and Selby meet.

It shows, too, that Aileen was capable of loving someone, despite her tragic, mistrusting past.

Theron's ugly dental work and studied tics and mannerisms of Wuornos are spot-on, so much so that it's difficult to tell the real person from the actor playing her. And her performance is by no means a fluke of mimicry. She embodies her character in the same way as method actors have done in the past, with the sort of intensity that makes every moment of her screen presence spellbinding.

However, from another perspective, she looks like Michael Keaton's 1988 character creation Beetlejuice, especially in the way that she fiddles with her hair, chews on her gums and cranks her neck and vertebrae with a flexible finesse.

But this is a small, slightly uncharitable observation because Theron transcends the ambiguity of her character, making you sympathetic towards her, even though you know that she's guilty of the most serious crimes.

Ricci is also good, travelling the path from naivety to finally facing the gravity of her lover's crimes. Her androgyny, through the short hair and bleached milkiness of her make-up, provides some strikingly believable moments.

Monster is a ironic title, used to reflect on the contradictions within Aileen Wuornos. She was part devil and partly a victim of circumstance.

As the film shows , despite her tendency to kill at will, she showed a maternal instinct towards her young lover which proved that all she needed was a chance of redemption. But, by then, it was too late and politics, notoriety and a needle expunged any possibility of her being saved.

Wuornos is more than a footnote in history, but, sadly, for all the wrong reasons.