THE SEA INSIDE
Directed & Edited by: Alejandro Amenábar.
Produced by: Alejandro Amenábar & Fernando Bovaira.
Written by: Alejandro Amenábar & Mateo Gil.
Director of Photography: Javier Aguirresarobe.
Music by: Alejandro Amenábar and Carlos Nuñez.
Released by: Fine Line.
Language: Spanish with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: Spain/France/Italy. 125 min. Rated: PG-13.
With: Javier Bardem, Belén Rueda, Lola Dueñas, Mabel Rivera, Clara Segura & Tamar Novas.

Much like Mike Leigh's Vera Drake, director Alejandro Amenábar (The Others) takes an emotionally-charged issue (euthanasia) and offers many points of views. Yet, unlike Leigh, Amenábar subtly and effectively takes a stand, if not an ironic one.

Once a robust world-traveling ship's mechanic, Ramón Sampedro (Before Night Falls' Javier Bardem) has been paralyzed for 28 years after a dive into the sea snaps his neck. Living with his elder brother's family in a Galician farm, he lies in bed writing poetry with the aid of a pen held in his mouth. His mood, however (and that of the film), is anything but morose. (Oddly, the name of his collection of poems is Letters From Hell). Almost always in good humor, he is hopeful in his determination to kill himself. For him, it is a matter of dignity. He even refuses to submit himself to use a wheelchair. In the most humorous scene, a young priest runs ragged up and down a staircase delivering retorts during a debate between a wheelchair bound priest downstairs and Ramón in his bedroom. Sampedro dismisses the Church's position by answering, "Stop mixing apples and ass*****."

Helping him to assert his right to die is Julia (Belén Rueda), a lawyer from Barcelona suffering from a debilitating illness. Also entering his life is the emotional basket case Rosa (Lola Dueñas), a needy single mother who first notices Ramon on the television news. She pursues him, arriving at his home uninvited.

A published author, with an incredibly patient family and two women in love with him, Ramón has too much to live for. His humiliating helplessness is only referred to when his sister-in-law and primary caretaker Manuela (Mabel Rivera) offers to change his colostomy bag. But his daily existence is not depicted: his being turned over to prevent bed sores, or Manuela bathing or feeding him. And despite fantasy sequences where Ramón's fancy takes flight, his point of view is never fully explored. Granted, Amenábar doesn't attempt to explain the unexplainable. Even Ramón doesn't know why he wants to die.

Deservedly, Bardem has already won awards for his role. This is an "eyes are the windows to the soul" performance. Yet the strength of the film is in the entire ensemble. The film is equally about his quest as it is that of his caregivers. The most emotionally satisfying conflict, though, isn't Ramón's legal skirmishes or even his growing attraction to Julia or Rosa. It's the battle of wills between Manuela and Rosa, both of whom are devoted to Ramón. Manuela can barely look at, let alone say hello to this younger woman intruding on her turf.

Although based on a true story, The Sea Inside does not present the intellectual or emotional challenges of Brian Clark's 1978 play Who's Life is it Anyway? It is engaging, but not penetrating. Kent Turner
December 17, 2004