Director: Alejandro Amenabar
Writer: Alejandro Amenabar, Mateo Gil (Screenplay)
Starring: Javier Bardem, Belen Rueda, Lola Duenas, Mabel Rivera, Celso Bugallo, Clara Segura
Plot: The factual story of Spaniard Ramon Sampedro, who fought a thirty-year campaign in favor of euthanasia and his own right to die.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Amazingly Inspiring True Story
Story: The Sea Inside starts as we meet Ramon Sampedro (Bardem) a quadriplegic who has been campaign to have the opportunity to be euthanised to end his years of suffering. He lives with his brother’s Jose (Bugallo) Manuela (Rivera) and Javi (Novas) family who take care of him. His latest campaign is to hire Julia (Rueda) a lawyer to fight in his corner as she is also suffering from her own degenerate disease.
While Ramon clashes with his own family about his request he finds friendship in local single mother Rosa (Duenas) as Ramon’s story starts to inspire the people of Spain to make more of their own lives while they still have time and the ability too.
Thoughts on The Sea Inside
Characters/Performance – Ramon is a man that has lived the second half of his life as quadriplegic after an accident, he wants to die but must fight for the right to do so, he always has a smile on his face and inspires others to achieve so much more in their life. Julia is a lawyer that also fights for the right to die as she also has a degenerative disease. We also have Rosa who is a single mother that finds inspiration in a relationship with Ramon.
Performance wise, Javier Bardem is fantastic and you can see just why he gets all the praise for this performance, Rueda and Duenas both are also brilliant in their supporting roles.
Story – The story isn’t all court case and medical drama which it could have easily been. Instead we learn about Ramon’s reasons to want to die, he also gets to see what he thinks would be to escape if he could continue to be mobile. The idea that he gets to help people also helps because it shows how even when you think your life is over you can help other people. This story is something people should enjoy.
Biographical/Romance – Looking at how Ramon was fighting for the right to die comes through so well, we also get to see how he holds back from true love even if people can fall in love with you.
Settings – Having the trapped room Ramon finds himself in shows us just how helpless he feels in his life, anything outside the room doesn’t include the Ramon character which in places takes out of the film.
Final Thoughts – This is one of the most beautiful and tragic stories you could see with stunning performances, that gives us the moral question about what we would do.
Overall: This is a must watch.
Rating
