"Hank Grotowski" (Billy Bob Thornton) is a prison guard at a state corrections facility in Georgia who, along with his son "Sonny Grotowski" (Heath Ledger) lives with his racist father, "Buck Grotowski" (Peter Boyle). Buck was a prison guard in his prime but is now a widower and suffers from a severe lung disease resulting in Hank, who is also a widower, taking care of him. Sonny is also a prison guard and works with his father on the same shift but is often derisively compared by the two of them to his deceased mother who they considered to be weak. Love is in short supply in this house. Be that as it may, both Hank and Sonny have been assigned to escort a prisoner on death row by the name of "Lawrence Musgrove" (Sean Combs) to the electric chair. In the process of doing this Sonny allows his emotions to get the better of him and becomes physically ill. This in turn angers Hank who feels that Sonny behaved unprofessionally during an extremely important phase of the execution. Meanwhile, Lawrence's wife "Leticia Musgrove" (Halle Berry) sits on her couch at her small house simply trying to get through the final minutes and wondering what is to become of both her and their son "Tyrell Musgrove" (Coronji Calhoun). Conversely, despite living with his father and son, Hank also shares the same feelings of loneliness but for entirely different reasons. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an intense drama which managed to capture the racism that has existed in the South for several generations while at the same time highlighting the humanity that exists as well. Also worth noting are the good performances by both Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton who each seemed tailor made for their respective roles.
