"When you can't escape, and you constantly rely on everyone else, you learn to cry by smiling, you know?"
Life is not a privilege, it is a right. It deserves to be lived to the fullest and be appreciated by all those who have it. But what if your given a life that seems to have everything you always wanted, only to have it all taken away from you in a split second? Ramon Sampedro, a former Spanish ship mechanic, was paralyzed in 1962 after a diving accident. He spent the next 29 years of his life in bed, campaigning to earn the right to end his own life. Sampedro was an intelligent man who did not allow his condition from stoping him inspire others and drawing attention to himself and the cause he was fighting for. Although Sampedro was given plenty of opportunities to convince the government that it was his right to end his own life, he was constantly denied. Finally, with the help of his colleagues, Sampedro was able to kill himself by consumption of potassium cyanide.
He touched the lives of all those that he met and still was able to mask himself with a positive attitude. I say mask because behind all of the smiles and charm, lied a man who was a realist. He was well-aware that there would never be a cure and that he was cheated out of living a real life. Javier Bardem brings one of the most compelling and powerful performances of all-time with his portrayal of Sampedro. The emotions that Bardem is able to evoke from the audience range from sympathy all the way to selfishness. He makes you look at yourself and reconsider what you feel is unfair in this world. You feel the pain this man has to go through when you see his sister-in-law have to turn his head to face someone, when you witness him cry for help after a lawyer, who is trying to help win the approval to end his life, collapses on his bedroom floor, or even in the most intimate moments when he explains to that same lawyer the fantasies he has about her. The charm is impossible to avoid or neglect but the audience sees the pain behind every smirk and glance.
The idea of what a life means is explored thoroughly in this film. Is it right for us to name ourselves as those who decide whether or not someone can take a life away from him or herself? What makes this individual capable of making a decision such as this? Sampedro understands that his life ended 29 years ago. That's why he feels that what he's experiencing now isn't "life" at all. Everyday he watches the world flow past him and there is nothing for him to do but wish that he can fly away into the countryside and walk the sandy beaches. The only way Sampedro can finally feel liberation in his life was to end it. Not because he felt that it would remove a burden on his family but because he didn't want to live a lie. He didn't see the point of lying in bed, growing old, and lying to himself that what he has now is worth living. Sampedro is constantly encountering people who attempt to persuade him out of his decision. Yet, none of these people are able to fully comprehend the magnitude of the pain this man endures on a daily basis. Not physical pain but the pain of knowing that you're nothing but a piece of furniture and that you're enslaving all those who are responsible for your well-being, which is his family in this case.
This film is sure to bring many to tears. You're so exhausted by all the pain you have to see this man endure, that by the end of the movie, and you see Sampedro finally have his wish granted, you're more preoccupied with the journey he had to go through than the actual fulfillment of his goal.
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