The Sea Inside (2004)

Rating: 2 Stars (out of 4)

Bed Man Walking

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy The Sea Inside on DVD.

Writer/director/composer Alejandro Amenabar returns from his two breathtaking metaphysical thrillers (Open Your Eyes and The Others) for a routine disease of the week film. Javier Bardem gives a tour-de-force performance as quadriplegic Ramón Sampedro, who, after 30 years in bed, wishes to die with dignity, despite the fact that his life looks pretty good. He has beautiful women -- a lawyer (Belén Rueda) and a local woman (Lola Dueñas) who was inspired by Ramon's television appearance -- fawning over him and a book of his poetry has just been published. Amenabar manages one great scene in which Sampedro argues with a wheelchair bound priest, sending a messenger up and down the stairs with sacrilegious pronouncements. Yet the movie only wishes to make a soapbox stand about whether or not humans have the right to decide our own deaths, and never comes to terms with the how or why. It's very simple and streamlined, and all that's left is Bardem's bid for Oscar glory, emoting from his bed using only his eyes and his voice. Not to worry, though: Amenabar provides plenty of flashback footage of the young, healthy Sampedro so that audiences can get a glimpse of the shirtless Bardem strutting on the beach.

Starring: Javier Bardem, Belén Rueda, Lola Dueñas
Written by: Alejandro Amenabar
Directed by: Alejandro Amenabar
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense depiction of mature thematic material
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Running Time: 125 minutes
Date: December 17, 2004