Issue: Lee’s Gun

This is an admittedly small point, but the filmmakers could not resist the urge to have Lee use a large caliber handgun (possibly a .357 magnum revolver or a .44) instead of the .22 the real Wuornos used.

Issue: Lee tries to Quit “Hooking”

The film shows Lee pounding the pavement looking for a job. Again, there is just no evidence that this ever entered the mind of the real Aileen Wuornos who had been a prostitute since her youth. However, one of the job interview scenes does correctly portray an important aspect of Wuornos’ personality-her volatile and unpredictable temper, which was undoubtedly a factor in the murders.

Issue: Selby Discovers Lee’s “Rape Injuries”

As mentioned, Moore never saw any evidence of injuries Wuornos allegedly received from a rape.

Issue: Cop Scene

Another fictitious scene occurs when Lee is forced to provide a cop with oral sex to stay out of jail. Lee also says the cop “nearly broke her jaw” during a previous encounter. The point of all of this seems to be that a hooker has enough hardship without having to battle the corrupt police force too. Unfortunately, it is all a fantasy.

Issue: “I Killed a Guy”

In one of the more emotional scenes in the film, Lee tells Selby, “I killed a guy” and the pair struggle to come to grips with this information. In reality, Moore stated that Wuornos casually told her about Mallory’s murder while they were watching television-no weeping or wailing was involved.

Issue: Second Murder

The film shows only four murders, while the real Wuornos killed at least seven men. This lack of disclosure seems to be another attempt to minimize her crimes and walk the fine line between revealing enough information to be credible and losing sympathy/empathy for the main character. The second “John” makes a remark that Lee interprets as proof he is a “child abuser”. Thus at least partial justification is placed into the viewer’s mind, if they can remember the opening montage that is.

Issue: “Stuttering John”

In yet another fictitious scene, Lee takes pity on a “John” with a stuttering problem and instead of killing him, provides him with her prostitution services. Obviously, this again goes to making Lee look like a person who cares about her fellow man. It also is saying that she didn’t kill everyone she encountered, which is apparently true enough.

Issue: Fun World

The film shows Lee and Selby traveling to Fun World where Lee waits patiently until Selby “strikes out” with another lesbian and then rides the Ferris wheel with her. “Fun World” was actually Sea World in real life and Wuornos refused to go inside and waited for Moore and her sister Tracey in the parking lot. Wuornos was jealous of Tracey, who was visiting for the summer, and did everything she could to ruin the planned outing. When they got home, Tracey took her sister aside and told her she wanted to go home.

Issue: Small Talk Before The Car Crash

This is one of Monster’s worst instances of killing the truth to create sympathy for the main character. Just before the car crash, Lee is filling Selby in on some of her life story. She says, “After my Dad killed himself, we (her and her siblings) were out on the streets.” Lee also speaks of her siblings throwing her out in the snow. This scene occurs just before the car crash so the viewer doesn’t have much time to think about whether it jibes with facts they may be aware of.

The real Wuornos’ father never came face to face with her and killed himself in prison. Wuornos’ adopted father (really her grandfather) Lauri Wuornos, killed himself too, but that was in 1976 after she was an adult. The only person who threw her out into the snow was Lauri whom she never got along with after her pregnancy at age fourteen. The other children were never “out on the streets” only Aileen, but they probably were understandably ashamed of her because she was a prostitute.

Issue: The Confession Speech

After the car crash, Lee and Selby return home where Lee confesses the rest of her crimes and gives a speech justifying her actions. Another purpose here seems to be making Selby equally culpable in the mind of the audience. In reality, Wuornos gave no such speech and Moore claimed to know only about the Mallory murder. To be fair, Moore should (and undoubtedly was) have been suspicious about many of the things she was seeing. However, she cooperated with authorities and was never charged with a crime, although one can argue she should have been.

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