Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 08/29/2006 Run time: 125 minutes

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film of 2004, The Sea Inside is a life-affirming film about a man who wishes to die. That may seem like a massive contradiction, but in the hands of director Alejandro Amenábar (Open Your Eyes, The Others) and actor Javier Bardem (Before Night Falls), this fact-based Spanish drama concerns the final days of Ramón Sampedro, the quadriplegic poet who waged a controversial campaign for his right to die. He was denied this right for 30 years, and ultimately arranged for his own assisted suicide, but this remarkable film--and Bardem's keenly intelligent performance--examines the hotly-debated issue of assisted suicide with admirable depth and humanity, just as Sampedro did until his death in 1998. For Sampedro, death was preferable to severe paralysis (he even refused to use a wheelchair), but the film does not suggest a "disposable" attitude toward disability. Instead, it's a thoughtful meditation on life and love as gifts to be cherished, and a challenging drama that begs each viewer to examine their own personal beliefs about what makes life worth living. You may not agree with Sampedro and his ultimate denial of life, but The Sea Inside will urge you to ponder how you would react under similar circumstances, and that makes it a profoundly meaningful film. --Jeff Shannon

There is no question that this movie is a work of art; it represents a powerful slice of life. What disturbed me about this film was not so much the message, but the way it was told. Ramon Sampedro, a poet, has been injured and left a parapalegic, and is thus convinced that life for him no longer has value. His crippled condition eclipses all else, and he is consumed with a desire to end his life. I I have to question if this is truly death with dignity--what is dignified about determining the worth of human life by these standards? Does a parapalegic have no dignity? But on another level, I saw a very stacked argument being played out: those who were pleading for Sampedro to see more to his life, who saw the possiblity for his art to carry on, were all portrayed as backward morons, while those who fought for his right to die were the only ones who seemed to have intelligence and empathy. I far preferred The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, also a powerful film of high artistic quality (you see his life through his eyes, literally)--the main character is also a parapalegic who struggles with his condition, and yet he grabs what life he has left, and gives a far different meaning to "death with dignity." If you watch The Sea Inside, you should also see The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and compare the lives of these two men.

This true story is retold on the screen with unflinching honesty, without being pat or glib, and is also touching in its depiction of a quadriplegic man and his extended family. No wonder Javier Bardem is one of the hottest actors around now; this and his other recent films show his remarkable range. The other cast members are just as strong, showing different reactions to his wish to die with dignity and the ensuing legal battle. He finds his own solution in the end and leaves the viewers with many issues to ponder in regard to euthanasia.

This is a true story of a 55 year old Spanish man who is a bedridden quadriplegic. Ramon Sampedro, the former ship mechanic, was paralyzed from the neck down after a swimming mishap. After being bedridden for more than 30 years, he is determined to end his life and "die with dignity." His brother, sister-in-law, nephew and father care for him. Ramon struggles in being a burden and being helpless while his family copes with the daily grind of caring for him and dealing with his death wish.

Ramon develops relationships with two women who fall in love with him - one has a terminal illness and the other is a factory worker. Both play key supporting roles in developing Ramon's character and the story line. Javier Bardem, who plays Ramon, is witty, intelligent, charming, sympathetic and an unforgettable figure - and perhaps here lies the irony for this character who is looking to end his life.

Euthanasia is a tough topic no matter which side you are on. Yet, the story is both moving and balanced - the acting (esp. Javier Bardem playing Ramon) deserved the numerous awards and widespread recognition - and the cinematography (countryside, the sea, the rustic farmhouse) was spectacular. It's hard to imagine that there is a "feel good" movie about euthanasia, terminal illnesses and the severely handicapped - however this certainly makes the grade. I found this to be one of the best movies that I have ever seen.

The Sea Inside (Alejandro Amenabar, 2004)

When you know how the story ends, and you still can't believe the director is going to end up there, that's a sign of one of two things-- either the director has the message chip on his shoulder in a big way, or the director is very, very good at what he does. I suspect, where The Sea Inside is concerned, there's some of both going on here.

Amenabar (The Others) gives us the (true) story of Ramon Sampedro (Javier Bardem, Spain's greatest export), injured in a diving accident twenty-five years before and paralyzed from the neck down since, who wants only one thing: the right to end his own life without anyone getting arrested for it. Arrayed against him are, well, all the usual suspects: his family, the church, the government. Added to this is a new friend of his, a disc jockey named Rosa (Volver's Lola Duenas) who saw him on TV and has added her voice to the chorus against him. As Ramon and Rosa get to know each other better, his longtime lawyer Julia (The Orphanage's Belen Rueda) starts getting jealous.

It's impossible to discuss the implications of this movie in detail without spoilers; I'll try to avoid them by saying it seemed to me that, perhaps, Amenabar himself was less than satisfied with the way the case actually turned out, and leave it at that (any examples would constitute spoilers). This cast something of a pall over the movie for me, despite all the many things going in its favor. Javier Bardem is, of course, an incredible actor, and just about anything he does is well worth your time. The interactions between Bardem, Duenas, and Rueda, in their various combinations, are fascinating, and if much of the rest of the film had been trimmed away, they would still make for an excellent piece of cinema. Not that I mean to imply, though I guess I have, that the love-triangle aspect of the movie is of any prominence (or, for that matter, much importance) in the greater scheme of things; it's a grace note at best in the midst of a symphony. But this is, perhaps, why I have been letting this film simmer in my head for almost a month without writing a review of it until now; so many of the things about which I wanted to see more were in the background, while my original reason for wanting to see the film (which, for once, wasn't Javier Bardem; I consider Ramon Sampedro a hero, despite the ultimate futility of his crusade), which did take center stage, seemed to pale in comparison.

A good film, but a tough one to rate. It's one of those rare movies that manages to be very good and yet still show plainly that it could have been so much more. *** ½

This movie will make even the best of cinamatographers take note. The scenery, the beautiful characters...well played I say, well played. The story itself is reason to watch, and then ponder your own life...