The Sea Inside

Few films move me to tears. As a man, I can hold back the trickle of eye leakage at certain heart-wrenching moments of cellular poignancy. However, with certain films, I can't hold back the tears. I cried at Saving Private Ryan regarding the utter hopelessness of their situation and when Private James Francis Ryan still needed convincing years later that he had been saved for a just cause - that he had done something with his life worth the sacrifice of other men. I cried at The Lord of The Rings When Boromir was lampooned with arrows after realising his true part in the Fellowship and when Gandalf fell fighting the Balrog and they ran out of Moria with Howard Shores music reaching the heart-strings and gently tugging the chord for crying like a kid with a skinned knee. And I nearly openly wept three times when I watched The Sea Inside. If a film can reduce a grown man to swallow hard to stop him wailing, it has truely attained a unique status in cinema.

The Sea Inside is based on the true story of Ramon Sampedro, who fought a 30 year campaign in favour of euthanasia and his own right to die following a diving accident leaving him a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. The story begins near the end of Ramon's struggle when he meets the lawyer that will fight in the courts for his right to die, and who has her own physical problems to deal with. His testament is broadcast on television which is seen by a divorced wife, Rosa, and with her two young children, they visit Ramon and she becomes infatuated with him.

There then begins a fascinating story of the lives of everyone that shares Ramon's life, specifically his brother and wife and their son who have looked after Ramon since his accident in 1968. They each have differing opinions on Ramon and his wish to to have the right to kill
himself.

This is a must-see film and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I would give this film 5 tears out of 5.