Mar Adentro: Amazing Grace

I wanted to watch this movie since it was so widely acclaimed. Javier Bardem was pretty good in Carne Tremula, so I knew that I would like his performance. He was wonderful. In fact, all the performances were wonderful, except for Belen Rueda who was just very good. But to be fair to her, the scenes in which she did well were left out. I have added Amenabar and Lola Duenas to my list. The subject was treated very gracefully. Soft visuals, soothing music, and a smile on the face of Ramon. The emotions were pretty strong, but were more of the subdued kind than raw. The debate about euthanasia was handled pretty well too. In other words, no strawmen were hurt during the making of this movie. Amanabar says he went for a realistic take on the subject, as opposed to a deeply intellectual one, and he has done that pretty well. Its sad that they had to leave out certain scenes about Julia. They were pretty good. But then, that makes sense too because the movie is already longish, standing at just over 2 hours. Lola is playing one of the major roles in Almodovar's Volver, and I can hardly wait to watch it. I don't know whether it is because of my predisposition to the subject or the way the movie is presented, I was thinking more about life than euthanasia or death in general. But from others' response to the movie, I think it is the latter. Excellent movie: 9/10.