I had no knowledge what the film was about. After an intense day of work, I needed to distract myself and The Sea Inside seemed to be the most promising motion picture on the new title shelf in the video store. I would have written a somewhat different review, had I not found out after seeing the film that it was based on the real-life story of Spaniard Ramon Sampedro, who fought a 30-year campaign in favor of euthanasia and his own right to die.  As a real-life story, the hands of the writer and director Alejandro Amenábar were somewhat tied to stay reasonably close to historical fact. When I first evaluated the film as a fictional story that tries to argue that people should have the right to end their life, the film failed in my view because it does not convince you that Ramon’s life is not worth living for. I am a supporter of the notion that people who experience every second of the wake existence with the intensity of pain you would feel when your arm is cut off by an electric saw should be allowed to end their life with the help of others. But the viewer does not see Ramon suffer horribly.  The real-life Ramon may have gone through hell, but we only see him during a time when one woman after another throwing herself at him although he cannot perform what the bible tells us men were created for. (A side note to my female friends: yes, the evidence is strong that you are the better creatures when compared to men, but to go on and say the only women were created by God is clearly not a view endorsed by the Bible!).  Ramon’s life seems pretty darn good.  I would have wanted to go on living in the kind of situation he was in.  This is not a must-see film, but if you have some time to spare, I recommend it.  It stimulates reflection,  Javier Bardem gives a wonderful performance as Ramon, the movie at times is deeply moving, and it has one of the most erotic scenes in film history without anyone getting naked.

of the wake existence with the intensity of pain you would feel when your arm is cut off by a electric saw should be allowed to end their life with the help of others. But the viewer does not see Ramon suffer horribly.  The real life Ramon may have gone through hell, but we only see him during a time when one woman after another throwing herself at him although he cannot perform what the bible tells us men were created for. (A sidenote to my females friends: yes, the evidence is strong that you are the better creatures when compared to men, but to go on and say the only women were created by God is clearly not a view endorsed by the Bible!).  Ramon