MAR ADENTRO (THE SEA INSIDE)
(Alejandro Amenabar / 2004 / Spain / 125 mins / Cert PG)
(Mon 11th / 7pm+9pm / £4/3)

Despite having made his name as a director of twist-in-the-tale style genre films (notably the 1999 sleeper hit 'Open Your Eyes' and the 2001 spook-fest 'The Others'), Alejendro Amenabar has proven that his real skill lies not in the gimmicky plot construction of his earlier films, but in real human drama. Based on the true life story of Spaniard Ramón Sampedro, who fought a 30-year campaign to win the right to end his life with dignity, after being left paralysed by a swimming accident at the age of 21. Javier Bardem (Before Night Falls) delivers a touching and complex portrait of Ramon, brilliantly displaying the human side of this moral debate, as well as showing his disability in a way which is neither grandstanding or crass. Probably a first for the Oscars there, then...