Biutiful I Say...Just Biutiful!

One of the best foreign language films of the year has finally surfaced! Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Biutiful is a tear jerking drama that takes place in some of the roughest and drug infested areas of Spain where a single dad lives to take care of his two children in a low income apartment. Uxbal, played by Spanish actor and husband to actress Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem gains income through underground means of drugs, illegal business deals with the Chinese and through his spiritual gift of communicating with the dead. His wife, Maramaba, is a drug addict and prostitute who mistreats their kids and thrives on infidelity although always begs to come back to Uxbal.

While their kids seem to not know what is going on, Uxbal is soon diagnosed with cancer and has to go undergo treatment but unfortunately because of neglecting his health, the possibilities of having a long life are drastically dropped to only a few more months.

Within the few months, Uxbal saves his money for the wellbeing of his children and leaves them with a friend’s wife who seemed to be a well suited mother for them. As the cancer progressed, symptoms such as urinating blood and dropping weight became very immanent to him until one day his young daughter finds out there is something wrong. In his last few moments of living he goes into his daughter’s room lays down next to hear and gives her a ring as a momentum of his love. A few breaths later, Uxbal grabs his daughter’s hand tightly and dies by her side.

Biutiful was an extraordinary movie. It came as a surprise because I thought it was just going to be a typical boring foreign language film but I found myself at the edge of my seat in almost every scene and embarrassingly enough with wet eyes at the end. Although the movie did seem a bit confusing and have me questioning a few things because of the movies plot and acting involved that truly let you feel what was going on, I give it 4 out of 4 stars but I definitely have to see it again! The entire film was in Spanish but was closed captioned in English.