The Sea Inside
- The Film:4.0
The Sea Inside is one of the standout dramas of the last ten years, a...
The Sea Inside is one of the standout dramas of the last ten years, a deeply felt meditation on Ramon Sampedro, the quadriplegic poet who underwent a torrid campaign for his right to die en route to a lawless 1998 suicide. Javier Bardem seamlessly inhabits Ramon's skin and director Alejandro Amenabar (Open Your Eyes) never falters before a final and unnecessary glaze of buoyancy.
It would take much more though to efface a classic production and performance that pleasingly regards the minds and hearts of its audience, but it is a shame that instead of leaving us with the film's deepest image, we receive an inelegant encore that desaturates the film's many meanings. It only sticks in the craw because of the chaste, unadorned truth that has preceded it. The peculiarity of Sampedro's case and character, in particular the burden of his intellect, are rendered with superb nuance and clarity, making this film a vital ode to the complexity of human experience.
It would be crude to say the extra features are to die for, but it's not far from the truth - and at least one of the three deleted scenes ought to have been included in the film. Best of all are the probing director's commentary and a mighty making-of that clocks in at 1 hour 24 minutes!
