Review of The Sea Inside (2004) by Pam S — 12 Jan 2009

Far and away, my favorite movie I've seen in 2009. A must see. A tour de force. Whatever other hackneyed compliment promoters use to sell a movie.

It has a surprising amount of charm, life, exploration and wonder, for a film whose central character is paralyzed from the neck down.

Javier Bardem is exquisite as Ramon Sampedro. He rarely leaves the comfort of his family, bed, or heather gray turtleneck sweater. Even completely immobile, Ramon knows love, beauty, and adventure.

Devotees pay him visits in his rural home, and fans flock to him if ever he ventures out of the house. A celebrity who craves fame and yet despises life, he garners the attention and affection of many (including a lawyer with her own degenerative disease.).

The score is moving. The cinematography breathtaking. It's a better euthanasia film than Million Dollar Baby, and a better quadriplegic film than The Diving Bell & The Butterfly, two movies in my Top 30 from last year.

Let me say unquestionably and unapologetically I don't agree with the main character's mission in this movie. The beatiful part of the film is that the majority of the cast and even the subject's country don't agree with him either.

With his unpopular stance, Ramon develops strength and determination. But at a point, you wonder if his sheer will-power has made him dillusional.

In the same moment, he can be humorous and hurtful. New acquaintances comment that he always wears a smile. But it's clear he's not a man who will accept any true joy in what he refuses to recognize as a life. He's mean-spirited, even abusive to anyone who doesn't support his monolithic goal, and moments of tenderness are short-lived.

Like so many characters, you remain unconvinced that Ramon's decision to choose death over life is more than just selfish, or even rational. In a moment of emotional nakedness, Ramon himself asks, "Why do I want to die?" You feel less guilty siding with the family members and lawyers who refuse to terminate his life when even Ramon doesn't have all the answers.

While their arguments against euthanasia are presently weakly, at least they're there. But the best case is made by Ramon himself. He wants to die, but doesn't want to suffer. He'll con, cajole, or guilt others into helping him ingest cyanide. If he really wanted to die, he could find a way to kill himself (e.g. Million Dollar Baby) but he's unwilling.

In the end, you realize the true victims - those who hurt the most - are those who love him. The ambivilence is deciding if he ever loved them back. (This after they come at his whistle, cater to his every need, even weld him a customized wheelchair.) There is a moment of betrayal, and that person gets their "punishment" in the final scene of the movie.

In the end, he boils down euthanasia to the "renouncing [of his] most precious asset: [his] body", completely discounting the mind, the heart, and the soul. Ramon doesn't just imply, but explicitly blames the unevolved human conscience for prolonging his suffering (though it's unclear how he's suffering so mightily when he admits his body and spirit are numb.) By his own "enlightenment", he fights to the death for death and leaves in his wake the broken hearts, lives, and souls of those who loved him.

I can see why so many critics liked this movie. Myself, I can't recommend it strongly enough, though I'm sure not everyone will see what I saw in the film.