Written by: Susan Granger
http://www.susangranger.com

Compassionate euthanasia is the somber theme of this intelligent, insightful, internationally lauded Alejandro Amenabar melodrama from Spain that's fictional yet based on real-life events.

In Spain's coastal Galicia region, quadriplegic Ramon Sampedro (Bardem) lies at home in bed, wryly begging to be put out of the helpless misery that he has endured for almost 30 years. Lovingly cared for by his stoic Celtic family, he spends years battling the Catholic Church and  Spanish judicial system for the right to die with dignity. To his aid come two women: a lawyer (Belen Rueda) who, although she too is suffering from a debilitating disease, helps Sampedro publish his first book and a lonely visitor (Lola Duenas), a naive single mother who gradually develops a deep understanding his plight. Both establish a romantic relationship with Ramon.

Director and co-writer Amenabar ("The Others") indulges in cinematic, even lyrical flights of fancy and copious symbolism while duly acknowledging the social implications of assisted suicide. But he and collaborator Mateo Gil never establish the profoundly essential emotional connection with his protagonist's quest to lift this film to greatness. That's left entirely to the revelatory yet understated nuances of Javier Bardem (Oscar-nominated for "Before Night Falls").

The essential moral and ethical arguments of Ramon's choice to die are deliberately left unexplored. A bizarre encounter with a quadriplegic priest, for example, is played for humor. If you're curious about the subject, Denys Arcand's "The Barbarian Invasions" is far more effective.

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "The Sea Inside" is an agonizingly noble, mournful 7, primarily distinguished by Bardem's powerful, poignant performance.

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