Isn't Life Biutiful?

I don’t know why I have given myself the difficult task of explaining why I love this film so much. The annoyance of having my laptop trying to correct Biutiful to Beautiful should be enough to turn me off the idea entirely.

I first came across Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Biutiful a few years ago when it was streaming on Mubi. Overall, I’m not a fan of long films; I feel so many films are longer than they need to be and there’s the notion knocking about the longer, the better. When I saw that Biutiful was two and a half hours long, I decided I’d split it in half, but once I started, I was so captivated and moved that I couldn’t stop.

So why do I love it so much? Ultimately, I think it's hard to say. It comes down to an emotive and touching, if not slightly bizarre story, with a likeable protagonist embodied by an incredible actor.

In a recent post, I complained about messy and heavy plot lines and how often such plots open up so many avenues that they have to scramble to close them again. If you were to look at Biutiful on paper, you would think it has thrown everything at the plot but the kitchen sink. With themes of spirituality, crime, single parenthood, mental illness, addiction, psychic abilities and immigration, the viewer may become lost or frustrated, but what keeps the film together is one man, one viewpoint and one story - about a man trying to cope with the complexities his life throws at him while time is running out. This is why Bardem’s performance as Uxbal is so important; it's the glue.

This film is not conventional. It has elements of other more recognisable genres, but the film has a real grittiness to it and at times feels like a thriller with the emotions of a melodrama. There are elements to this film that require you to suspend your scepticism and just go with it, and, if you can do that, you will connect with this film and enjoy it.

Even though the film has supernatural elements, it feels real. Uxbal is a real man; he is not a hero, a villain or even an anti-hero. He is a good father trying to make a better world for his children. The means by which he needs to do this may be obtained illegally, but he is just a normal man trying to get by. His clairvoyance is a small aspect of what makes up a complex man. We see the real and ugly underbelly of Barcelona. We watch immigrants struggling to survive, and their labour being exploited. It is this reality that makes the emotional and magical elements so impactful.

During several interviews, Iñárritu said he was inspired by the poem Del Mito by Jamie Sabines. This short poem ends:

'Someone spoke to me every day of my life

in my ear, slowly, slowly.

He told me: live, live, live!

It was death.'

This poem sums up what the film is and where its emotion comes from in a way that I am clearly scrambling to do. Death is with us from birth, but, of course, we don’t always acknowledge it until it comes barreling towards us and we realise just how little time we have left. Uxbal cannot die; there are too many uncertainties and loose ends in his life: what will come of his children and how can he set the world up for them? Uxbal is trying to control when he leaves this world, trying to leave it the way he wants it. It seems as though he may, in fact, outrun time because he needs to as his children need him to, as we need him to, but that is impossible for any man.

Iñárritu has also said that he wrote this role specifically for Bardem and it truly is a perfect match. There is a point in the film where Uxbal says ‘I’m not going to die”. It is heartbreaking moments like this that Bardem makes with the subtleties in his facial expressions. We watch his face go from a man who believes this statement to a man trying to believe this is even possible. Uxbal has abilities that connect him to two worlds. Bardem also reflects these complexities on screen; he can see more than the average person, and this weighs him down at times. So Uxbal can seem like a ghost between two worlds, already transitioning. There are also moments when Uxbal watches his reflection, but the reflection and his physical body do not match. It is these layers that give the film great depth and emotion and, most importantly, require a viewer to pay attention, which makes one think.

I have truly scrambled to put across a good case as to why everyone should watch this film. It is a film with an unusual plot, but a story that feels very real. It’s a challenging film; both the main plot and the smaller subplots pose many questions about life and time, along with many others. Bardem’s performance is stellar and delivers an emotional punch to an already-moving story. As I said, it is the subtle, and sometimes unusual, moments so grounded in reality that make this film what it is. Moments such as hearing the heartbeats of daughter and father as they share one of their dwindling embraces. If for no other reason, watch it to see a dedicated actor delivering a career-defining performance.