28/02/2005

After a successful premiere in the last Venice Film Festival and the 14 awards received in the Goyas ceremony in Madrid, The Sea Inside [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Chilean-born director Alejandro Amenábar achieved last night in Los Angeles the ultimate international recognition with the Oscar for best foreign language film.

Based on the true story of Ramón Sanpedro, a former sailor who fought for more than 20 years for the right to die in dignity, the film is the forth title in Amenábar's career, after Tesis, Abre los ojos and the international hit The Others.
"This film is based on the life of a man who emanated a lot of light around him, despite his strong wish to die", stated the director in his speech. "Therefore, the first part of this prize belongs to him, wherever he is now". But Amenábar also underlined the talent of his cast: "The second part belongs to Javier Bardem, for his excellent performance and generosity". Bardem, who was nominated four years ago for the portrait of Cuban poet Reynaldo Arenas (another real character) in Julian Schnabel's Before night falls, did not compete this year in the best actor category though his impressive performance was warmly acclaimed by both critics and audience.

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The Sea Inside beat the other three European nominees in the same category (French Les Choristes, Swedish As it is in heaven and German Downfall) and became the forth Spanish film to get the Oscar for best foreign film, after Volver a empezar, by José Luis Garci, Belle Epoque by Fernando Trueba and Todo sobre mi madre by Pedro Almodóvar.
The other Spanish title competing in the Oscars, Nacho Vigalondo's short film 7.35 in the morning, was less luckier than The Sea Inside. Andrea Arnold's Wasp got the Oscar for best live action short film.