This true story of Spaniard Ramón Sampedro’s thirty year fight for the right to end his life is one you won’t soon forget. Javier Bardem’s brilliant performance playing a quadriplegic is Oscar worthy; subtle, with humor, great intelligence and depth of dignity.

The story of “The Sea Inside” is even more poignant given all the people who meet, live and connect with Ramón are changed by him and receive so much from him. The network of people surrounding him do want want to lose Ramón from their lives. The sea inside metaphor seems to relate to Sampedro’s early life as a sailor and his ocean diving accident to the previous freedom he had at the sea, the same sea that results in his quadriplegia.

Watching the extras on the dvd I found it startling to see a film clip of the real Ramón Sampedro and how Bardem seemed to channel the real Ramón in his portrayal of him. Bardem plays Sampedro at fifty five; when the actor made this movie he was in his early thirties, quite an achievement.

Beautifully directed, filmed and acted by an excellent cast of actors, “The Sea Inside” is a film you won’t want to miss if you are a fan of quality filmmaking.

2004. Directed by Alejandro Amenábar. Spanish with English subtitles. Starring Javier Bardem, Belén Rueda, Lola Dueñas, Mabel Rivera, Celso Bugallo and Clara Segura.

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