The sea inside

Herald rating: * * * *

Ramon Sampedro (Javier Bardem, Before Night Falls) wants to die. Paralysed from the neck down in a diving accident as a young man 26 years ago, he tells those who care for him and care about him - his brother and sister-in-law; his nephew; Julia (Belen Rueda), his lawyer; and Rosa, the local DJ who rides her bike out from town to meet him - that he is tired of a "life without dignity".

Julia and Ramon have much in common. She works for a right-to-die lobby and has a degenerative disease. They fall in love with each other. Rosa also loves him and desperately wants him to live. His family loves him and doesn't mind looking after his every need. His brother is adamantly opposed to euthanasia.

As the forces of family, friends, church (a quadriplegic priest is sent to talk Ramon out of his decision) and state rally against him, and supporters rally to him, Ramon waits in his bed, smiles, and figures out how to bring about his end.

Though it's based on the true story of a Spanish quadriplegic who succeeded in his cause, planning his death so that if the details were discovered no one could be prosecuted, director Alejandro Amenabar and a superb Bardem insist that they are not supporters of euthanasia and that their international award-winning movie is fiction.

The DVD is spearheaded by A Trip To The Sea Inside, an impressive 85-minute documentary that follows Amenabar's crusade to make the film as well as his comments on the differences between working in Hollywood and Europe. He provides a detailed commentary track, there are design and storyboard galleries and three deleted scenes.

* Spanish, English subtitles

* DVD, Rental Video Today