Biutiful

There’s lots to like about Biutiful from the perspective of someone who likes film. For some, the fact that it stars the handsome and talented Spaniard, Javier Bardem, is worth the price of admission. For others, like me, who like gritty, grimey, down and dirty human dramas with almost no special effects, there’s plenty to sink one’s to teeth into.

The movie starts with a mix of incongruous scenes that leave you questioning what this movie is about, but as more scenes unfold a story forms around the life of Uxbal, Javier Bardem’s character, a loving father, who’s life is falling apart in the seedy underground of Barcelona, Spain.

The threads holding Uxbal’s life together are snapping one by one, and nothing is going his way. He has cancer, and he’s dying. He’s tormented by the collapse of his marriage. His business dealings are illegal and causing run-ins with the police–he’s a drug dealer and helps human trafficers. He has a drug problem too. He’s losing touch with his kids who have a hard time understanding their father. In summary, his life is a train wreck.

The movie is sad. Watching this guy desperately trying to keep his life together will definitely leave a tear rolling down your cheek by the end.

Despite everything though, the story is beautiful. It draws you into the turmoil, and in the end, the beautiful part is the fact that he still finds the strength to make it through each day knowing fully he’s fighting a losing a battle. He scrapes and fights to survive until there’s nothing left.

There are other elements in the story as well. The film doesn’t explain this well, but Uxbal is a medium. He sees dead people. In a few scenes, Uxbal uses his gift to help families who lost loved ones. He communicates with the deceased and then attempts to give the surviving family members peace of mind.

The writer and director of the film is Alejandro Gonzalez–the same director that did Babel and 21 Grams. Like his other films, he employs his trademark of tragic events or deaths to bring characters together or tear them apart, which is definitely the case for Biutiful.

In one particular scene, a room full of about 25 Chinese sweatshop workers is accidentally killed. Uxbal buys space heaters for the workers, who all sleep in the same room. The heaters malfunction, and everyone suffocates in their sleep. It’s sort of the climax of the film, and it serves to accentuate the fact Uxbal despite many good intentions is really a character doomed to failure.

From a technical standpoint, the film is shot well. The acting is superb. Gonzalez definitely knows how to cover a scene, and uses a camera to capture images beautifully, especially of the beautiful Barcelona cityscapes and sunsets.

One technical point that could be called a mistake is he uses lavaliere microphones instead of a boom mic. Whenever the characters hugged or something, you could hear the microphones rustling, or you could hear the actors hearts beating. It was a little distracting.

Biutiful is currently nominated for 2 Academy Awards–Best Foreign Film and Best Actor.