Whose life is it anyway?
The Sea Inside (FILM)
Language: Spanish, Galician, Catalan
Director: Alejandro Amenabar
Year of making: 2004
Direction: 4.0 star (out of 5)
Cinematography: 4.0 star (out of 5)
Sound: 4.0 star (out of 5)
Mise-en-scene: 4.0 star (out of 5)
Editing: 4.0 star (out of 5)
Acting: 4.5 star (out of 5)
We often raise our voices for our rights to equality, education, freedom, dignity, life and whatnot, but when we fight for the ‘right to die with dignity’, we suddenly freeze with emotions that start flowing from all quarters of our lives. We whine about our lives being ephemeral, whereas we sometimes fail to empathise with the eternal confinement that elongates the pain of a permanently disabled person. Let’s recollect the case of quadriplegic Ramon Sampedro, a Spanish seaman and writer, who gallantly fought a legal battle for 28 years against the intractable Spanish law to establish his right to assisted death before discovering his own way of redemption. Ramon’s body was recovered in Boiro in 1998 with a trace of cyanide poisoning, but nobody could be indicted for his death and his case created a controversial but ethical uproar in Spain to legalise euthanasia.
Spirited Ramon delivered numerous inspiring TV speeches and also completed a stinging memoir, ‘Letters from Hell’ in his lifetime. The Spanish film ‘Mar Adentro’ (‘The Sea Inside’), a biopic of Ramon, is based on his autobiography. The film won the Academy Award for ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ in 2004. A stellar performance by two-time Academy Award winner Javier Bardem and an impressive presentation by the director Alejandro Amenabar helped the film clinch the most coveted award on earth. It’s a real triumph of facial acting. Bardem’s half-smile adorned the treasure of character traits and the air of imperturbable insight of Ramon.
Alejandro and Mateo Gil modulate the perspective of ‘not to be’ from all possible angles throughout the film - moral, religious, socio-political and legal. Alejandro carefully picturises the sensitive emotional conflicts among Ramon’s family members and outsiders who alternately support and coax him against his sombre plea. When a priest approaches with another quadriplegic colleague to dissuade Ramon, he retorts quickly and crystallises the debate: “Life that takes away freedom is not a life.” His brother Jose (Celso Bugallo) yells in frustration: “And now you want us to be your murderers?”
The film reaches its euphoric crest when Ramon flaps his dream wings and after tapping his bare foot on the hardwood of the floor takes an aerial route out of his bedside window to besiege the verdant countryside to the ocean view of Galicia or sometimes outstretches himself to earn a kiss from his lover Julia, while Puccini soars in the background. The hypnotic cinematography of Javier Aguirresarobe compels the audience to perceive the situation on a different note.
Stunning Belen Rueda as Julia, though suffering from a degenerative disease, shows immense moral support in advocating the cause of Ramon on behalf of an organisation called ‘Death with Dignity’. Light-hearted Rosa (Lola Duenas), a good neighbour who takes Ramon seriously at a later stage, gives a dash of performance. Mabel Rivera’s naïve Manuela cannot be more caring than his sister-in-law. Her display of motherly affection wrenches our hearts. Finally, Amenabar’s magical paintbrush gives Sampedro’s campaign to die with dignity purely a look of a plea for life with pride.
