Movie Review

The Sea Inside

?Oh please?? were the two words I kept muttering in my head every ten minutes of this film?s everlasting duration (that and ?How long is this film again??). My reaction to The Sea Inside is similar to the first time I saw Chicago in that it was just revolting for me to watch and a difficult experience to survive. I will admit that Chicago isn?t a bad film, but I nearly hated it the first time I saw it in theaters ? eventually on DVD it was elevated to being simply ?okay.?

My biggest complaint with Sea Inside, besides its hardcore sentimentality, is that the film offers two basic themes, and their meanings are repeated over and over again in the same manner. This film is about dying and the power of love. While that recipe could deliver quite a powerful emotional trip, this film is devoid of emotion. Instead, the film is manipulating, and manipulation is quite possibly the most torturous device that a drama can possess.

This is the true story of Ramon Sampedro (Javier Bardem), a Spaniard who was confined to his bed for 27 years, being a quadriplegic (he couldn?t move his arms and legs). Ramon pleaded to the judicial courts for his right to die by means of euthanasia in order to end his suffering (without it, he?d suffer until he naturally died). This film depicts the emotional battle between his desire to end his life and family relatives who wanted him to stay alive.

One of the first areas in which this project goes wrong is in the very beginning: I didn?t know Sampedro as a person because the script vaguely introduces him. The story starts off as he is simply confined to his bed and we are immediately supposed to be rooting for him. I don?t want to come off the wrong way, but there was no character development to make me care about this man's fate.

I honestly found The Sea Inside sickening, the kind of sappy feast that tries so hard to get you to cry that you just feel disgusted with it. Javier Bardem is likely to get some folks and critics claiming that he deserves a Best Actor nomination, and possibly that he should win. And yet, if you were to ask me his performance is just downright bland. All Bardem does for two hours is recite poems in the same tone of voice about why everyone should love each other, and winks little smiles as if to say ?Life is beautiful.?

Speaking of which, Life is Beautiful (B) actually has the good version of this story. And while that film was kind of flowery in some ways, it delivered its message solidly without going overboard. The Sea Inside overstates its morals to the extent that you could walk in during the third act, having missed everything else, and you still won?t have missed anything crucial (it all will be mentioned again). The Sea Inside is similar to I Am Sam in terms of being sentimental, and has characters spewing sugary dialogue that is meant to be profound (pertaining to our existence) and yet it all is just incredibly preachy.

Most of the film is also set in one room ? Sampedro?s ? and this setup is right out of a soap opera, the only difference being that these characters aren?t drenched in makeup (and a husband didn?t have an affair with a girl half his wife?s age). The film is set in this scenario so much, and with this watery material being played out for so long that it gets to be terribly boring. I get why this guy wants to die, and I get why friends are trying to stop him, and I get why life and love are awesome ? now get on with it and say something different.

I have no problem with emotional films as long as sympathy is earned. I even ended up liking The Notebook (B) and that film concluded like a classic tearjerker, and yet it won me over because it didn?t cheat (by manipulating) in its goal. I had feared for my life going into that screening, as I expected a very cute and weepy film (and ?cute? only goes so far with me). That film, in some ways, played with similar themes and yet surprised me via its well-defined characters and performances that weren?t so desperately intent on winning an Oscar.

This film might as well be called The Oscar Inside, for that is all I saw in its layers. Films in which actors take on dysfunctional roles can be risky with me, I do admit, because there are times when I just see through everything and don?t believe it. With the film, Radio, I avoided it because I know Cuba Gooding Jr. is not mentally challenged, and to me some films like that are just too phony, wanting praise so badly. I like Sean Penn as an actor, but with I Am Sam I knew he was simply acting, and thus, I just didn?t believe him as that character and simply didn?t care for the story. Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump is an example of this brand of role that I actually fell for emotionally (and more appropriate in comparison, Jack Lemmon in Tuesdays with Morrie).

Some might like (or love) The Sea Inside, but there?ll probably be others like me who will just sigh due to its desperation. I know these are just films and I maybe shouldn?t get so boiled up by this stuff, but it happens every year with this genre. You usually end up being trapped with an example like this even if you had expected the film to be good (but here, I wasn?t sure if I was going to like it). Likely to be praised by some, if not many people for obvious reasons, this one just didn?t work on me and is a strong thumbs down.

Lee's Grade: C
Ranked #79 of 120 between Laws of Attraction (#78) and Godsend (#80) for 2004 movies.

A	0.4%
B	30.0%
C	61.7%
D	8.0%
F	0.0%