By Rebecca Thomas BBC News Online entertainment staff

Cast your mind back if you will to this year's Oscars ceremony in March.

The night was stolen by Halle Berry and her emotion on becoming the first black woman to win the best actress award for Monster's Ball.

As the film opens in the UK on 7 June, audiences will finally be able to judge for themselves if Berry gave a screen performance worthy of an accolade.

But the movie's director Marc Forster admits that before meeting Berry he doubted she would be any good for the role.

Berry and Denzel Washington triumphed at the Oscars

In Monster's Ball, Berry plays a poor single mother in the southern US state of Georgia, where divisions between black and white in rural areas remain strong.

And, says Forster, he almost passed over considering her for the grim and gritty part.

"Halle is so beautiful and glamorous that frankly for a long time she was the underdog. But she kept fighting for the part," he explains.

"But after talking to her I felt she had this incredible passion and commitment. There was something in her eyes."

Death row

Yet, if Berry's involvement in Monster's Ball is unorthodox, it is just a reflection of the movie itself, which is far removed from glossy mainstream Hollywood fare.

Made on a low budget, the drama required Berry and co-star Billy Bob Thornton to work for a fraction of their usual salary.

When you enter a maximum security prison, walk from cell to cell on death row and look into these prisoners' eyes it has such a strong imprint on you - it's impossible not to be moved

Director Marc Forster

They, and fellow cast members - Heath Ledger, Sean "P Diddy" Combs and Peter Boyle - were hooked by the quality and depth of the script, which was sparse on dialogue but nonetheless heavy in emotional intensity.

It tells the story of Leticia who, after a lifetime of struggle, is finally left to fend for herself and her son when her convict husband on death row, played by Combs, is sent to the chair.

In a subtle turn of intertwining events, Leticia is drawn into the life of Hank, played by Thornton, who is the inherently racist prison guard who strapped her husband down.

Love grows between them as increasingly each realises they need each other to survive.

Objectivity

Forster says he was determined to paint an honest and uncluttered picture of the multifaceted issues of race and the intricacies of family life in the South.

Berry and Thornton's characters fall in love against the odds

He adds that as a German - an "outsider" - he was more able to take an objective approach.

At the same time, Forster and his crew were helped in their understanding by the people living in on the outskirts and in the neighbourhoods of New Orleans.

For Leticia's home, they were allowed to use a house in one of the poorest of these areas.

The prison sequences were filmed inside and around Louisiana's State Penitentiary at Angola.

A warden - and veteran of 26 electrocutions - gave Forster full access and detailed explanations, including that of the routine for the Monster's Ball - prison jargon for a condemned man's last night.

Impact

Forster is convinced that in both cases, particularly with regard to the prison, the location had a big effect on him and the cast.

"It was truly life changing," he says of going to Angola. "When you enter a maximum security prison, walk from cell to cell on death row and look into the prisoners' eyes it has such a strong imprint on you - it's impossible not to be moved."

The crew and cast filmed inside the real prison

Monster's Ball reveals itself as a story of redemption and hope as Leticia and Hank learn to move on their violent pasts.

Forster says he is drawn to such stories because he had to deal with the loss of his brother, father and grandmother in the same year.

"I definitely, but subconsciously, deal with fanatics, grief and repressed emotions. But I am always looking for the positive.

"Monster's Ball does that. It goes through the circle of violence, abuse and racism but ultimately it is about forgiveness, love and letting go."

Monster's Ball is released across the UK on 7 June.