Review of 2004 Disabled Movie, The Sea Inside aka Mar adentro The Joys of Life Found in Death

This is the life story of Spaniard Ramón Sampedro, who fought a 29-year campaign to earn the right to end his life with dignity through assisted suicide. Ramón had non-sexual relationships with two women; Julia, a lawyer who supports his cause and Rosa, a local woman who wants to convince him that life is worth living. Ramón teaches everyone he encounters the value of life.
This was recommended to me by a friend from Mexico so I checked it out. I was blown away by how powerful the story was for me. I watched it right around the time when the Terry Schiavo case was headline news. Both the case and this movie involve the right to die and assisted suicide. Since the circumstances of Terry’s case are very
different (she was comatose and others decided for her, but Ramón was conscious and aware of reality and
decided for himself,) I won’t discuss her case, just this movie here.
Note: It’s in Spanish so you’ll need to read subtitles. I’m unsure of a dubbed version.
The story is simple, but the drama is complex. We follow the life of Spaniard Ramón Sampedro. The movie is set in present-day Spain where Ramón is fully paralyzed from the neck down. At first glance, he appears to be happy and content, always smiling and jovial. But, soon, we find out that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. The
truth is that Ramón is dying on the inside. He sees no real purpose in his life, since a diving accident when he was a younger man at the age of 25, which we see through flashbacks.
Now, he just wants to die but due to his paralysis, he was physically unable to commit suicide. His family won’t help him kill himself and the government says it is illegal.
Julia, a lawyer, is taking on his case pro bono and representing him in the courts. She often visits him at his house to help him build his case. Together, she and Ramón build the case which argued that suicide was a right and that he was being denied that right. First they took it to the courts of Spain, but later, his case drew attention from across Spain and a significant following worldwide.
Throughout all of this, Ramón was not alone, far from it. He lives with his loving and caring family. His lawyer, Julia, has feelings for him, but she’s in a relationship. He meets Rosa, a young woman who visits him often and grows to
love him deeply. Ramón knows that he has love and support, but it still doesn’t matter to him. He still feels he has no purpose in life and hates having others take care of his daily needs and care.
No one around Ramón can really understand why he wants to die. Julia is the only one who respects his wishes, but won’t kill him herself. His family doesn’t understand and Rosa can’t understand it at all, because she adamantly professes her love for him, which he questions.
Rosa asks him, “Why? Can’t someone fall in love with a quadriplegic or what? Is that so weird?”
To which Ramón responds with “Even though you may say now that you love me, I will never be able to be sure of how real your love is, and how much of the idealization of a man that you could find but couldn’t last.”
Rosa gets annoyed and says “What the hell are you saying, Ramon? Don’t try to trick me. You either love or you don’t. Love can’t be reasoned out.”
We watch Ramón getting up in the morning, bathed, fed, and lifted into his chair, first by his family, later by Rosa. Ramón hates being taken care of, but endures it while hoping to die. The days go by one by one, with Ramón getting more frustrated.
Eventually, Ramón sits in his wheelchair, learns to use a mouth stylus to type with and begins to type a book about his situation. It gets published and the world learns about his story. But still, the government won’t allow assisted suicide.
Ramón tries to use Rosa’s love to convince her to help him kill himself. At first, she feels used, but then fights him vigorously. Eventually, Rosa agrees to help him. They get a room, far from home, and he has her put poison in a cup and hold a straw to his lips, leaving the final choice up to him.
Before Ramón dies, I believe he really has learned to truly love Rosa. He tells her “Don’t forget one thing: I’m going to be in your dreams. I’m going to come…to your bed at night, and we’re going to make love. And in case I fail to
tell you in your dreams, I’m gonna say it now: Thank you, Rosa. From the bottom of my heart.”
Ramone fought for his right to an assisted suicide for 29 years, but it still was thought illegal. To Ramone, his one quote sums it up best, “I believe that living is a right, not an obligation.” He found release through love, not government bureaucracy.
Ramón Sampedro died on Monday, January 12, 1998, in Boiro, Spain, from potassium cyanide poisoning. Several days later, Ramona Maneiro (Rosa in the movie), a close friend of Ramón, was arrested and charged with assisting suicide, but was released due to lack of evidence and no further charges were filed.
The statute of limitations for Ramón’s “murder” had expired seven years later and Ramona, spoke on a Spanish talk show and admitted to giving Ramón a cyanide-laced drink and a straw. Ramona said “I did it for love.” She also said she turned on the video camera that recorded Ramón’s last words before he drank the poison and died.
Ramon left a lot of letters for friends and family after he died. This is a translation of a letter left for Julia, who had contracted a wheelchair-bound disease that affected her speech and memory near the end of Ramón’s death and could no longer visit him.
Out to sea.
Out to sea.
And in the weightlessness of the deep,
where dreams are fulfilled.
Two wills come together to fulfill a wish.
Your gaze and my gaze
like an echo repeating wordlessly.
Farther out.
Farther out.
Beyond the other side of everything,
through blood and bones.
But I always wake up
and I always want to be dead.
Your hair forever caressing my lips.
The entire cast was phenomenal! I’ve no problems with any of the acting, well except for Lola Dueñas (Rosa) who is beautiful, but smiled a bit too much. Beyond that, I’ve not one iota of negative criticism about the actors. Javier
Bardem stands out a head above the rest, as the star of the movie, Ramón Sampedro. Words can’t express how well he portrayed the disabled man, every nuance of his voice and facial expression looked so real, even though Bardem is not disabled himself. Belen Rueda does a fantastic job as Julia, Ramón’s lawyer. Aside from Lola
Dueñas’s incessant smiling, she does a terrific job of bringing a warm and loving appeal to her role as Rosa. The rest of the cast is just as convincing as the stars.
The story flows smoothly in a chronological order- after several years into Ramón’s search to die and soon before his court case begins. We see a few flashbacks of his past, before and during his diving accident, but it’s not done in a distracting way. Alejandro Amenábar does a great job directing and writing.
As for me, I’m pro assisted suicide, especially in cases where the person is conscious and of fit cognitive abilities. This movie portrays many of the same thoughts and feelings wanted peace) while my review of “Inside I’m Dancing” shows the joys of life. They’re flipsides of the same coin yet some disabled, like myself, feel this dichotomy of emotions. Ramón Sampedro was completely sane and knew what he wanted. It’s his life. It’s his body. It’s his choice. Don’t forget his last words: “I believe that living is a right, not an obligation.” And I agree 100%.
I recommend this film to everyone, disabled or not, naysayers of assisted suicide or not. It shows one man’s struggles of control over his own body and life, not that different from women having the choice to have an abortion. Check this movie out for a good argument for assisted suicide and a great drama with a terrific cast.
Check it out today. Note: It probably will make you cry but it’s just a sign of how well this movie was done. Five stars across the board!
Cast/Characters:
Javier Bardem …. Ramón Sampedro
Belén Rueda …. Julia lawyer?
Lola Dueñas …. Rosa the girl who visits
Mabel Rivera …. Manuela Sampedro sister-in-law
Celso Bugallo …. José Sampedro older brother
Clara Segura …. Gené representative of DMD
Derecho a Morir Dignamente (Right to Die with Dignity)
Joan Dalmau …. Joaquín father
Alberto Jiménez …. Germán (Julia’s husband)
Tamar Novas …. Javier Sampedro nephew
Francesc Garrido …. Marc
José María Pou …. Padre Francisco
Alberto Amarilla …. Hermano Andrés
Andrea Occhipinti …. Santiago
Federico Pérez Rey …. Conductor (Driver)
Nicolás Fernández Luna …. Cristian
Raúl Lavisier …. Samuel
Xosé Manuel Olveira ‘Pico’ …. Juez 1 (Judge 1)
César Cambeiro …. Juez 2 (Judge 2)
Xosé Manuel Esperante …. Periodista 1 (Reporter 1)
Yolanda Muiños …. Periodista 2 (Reporter 2)
Adolfo Obregón …. Ejecutivo
José Luis Rodríguez …. Presentador
Julio Jordán …. Encuadernador (bookmaker)
Juan Manuel Vidal …. Amigo Ramón (Ramón’s Friend)
Marta Larralde …. Muchacha en la playa (Girl on Beach)
Directed by
Alejandro Amenábar
Writing credits
Alejandro Amenábar (screenplay) and
Mateo Gil (screenplay)
Article written by John Gugie, © 2007 butyoudontlooksick.com