The
By Charles Mitchell
There comes a time in a man’s life when he must
choose his own path, even if that path is death. In Alejandro Amenabar’s the Sea Inside, the idea
that choosing your destiny can mean ending your life is examined in the meticulousness
that only a narrative based on a true story could offer. The screenplay is
derived from a real court case of a quadriplegic who fought the Spanish courts
for the right to euthanasia. In the
silver screen version, Ramon Sampedro (Javier Bardem)
suffers a terrible accident as a young and vibrant connoisseur of life. But the tragedy disables him not only
physically but more so emotionally. He
spends his days -- and years -- lying in bed and wishing to escape out of the
bedroom window to a world that is now as intangible as any feeling below his
waist
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While his family struggles to take care of him, and
objects to his wish to end it all, two women enter his world: One who fights
for his right to die and another who fights to give him reason to live.
Regardless of the ruling, Ramon views his existence as already lost in the
accident almost 30 years earlier.
However, if the assisted suicide is granted, it’s really those around
him who fear that they would have no reason to go on and would drown in the sea
of their own remorse and regret.
Javier Bardem shines in the Sea Inside
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