Biiutiful Sparknotes

In between Love and Afterlife
In the shadows of our contemporary society there lays a monster thought of being long destroyed, but is in reality stronger than ever. The vicious monster inflicts pain and death on millions of victims. The truth is modern slavery is the dark monster that preys on the vulnerable individuals and devastates families. The movie Biutiful, directed by Alejandro Gonzales, does an extraordinary job of depicting the topic of modern slavery in Barcelona through the struggles of a torn family. Additionally, the trailer appeals the viewer to watch the movie by providing a mysterious and intense sensation through rapid clips from the movie. Biutiful successfully portrays a moving story of a dying father’s unconditional love for his children as he tries to ensure their safety before he journeys to the afterlife.
Uxbal (Javier Bardem), father of Ana and seven year old Mateo, discovers he has terminal cancer with only months to live.
As Uxbal ponders over the future of his children without a father, he gives in to his manic wife’s idea of living with her as a family. Throughout the movie we learn that Uxbal makes a living using his psychic gift of talking to the death and contracting Chinese and African immigrants to do barbarous work for hardly any money. By pity and desire for absolution before he dies, Uxbal buys heaters for the exploited immigrants to endure the cold nights that later on leak and leave the workers on an eternal sleep. The guilt overwhelms our dying protagonist as he decides his bipolar wife is not suited to take care of his children and returns to his apartment where an African mother, Ige (Diarytou Daff), is sheltered. Until Uxbal’s death, Ige takes care of the children and promises to protect them with the money Uxbal leaves
her.
As Uxbal starts running out of time, he seeks an old friend with a similar psychic ability that pulls him out of the shadows of denial and makes him accept his children’s fatherless future. With the wise words of, “we all know what happens to the dead with debts”, Uxbal awakens from his denial and starts taking charge of what is left of his life. The realization of his inevitable death causes a change of heart in Uxbal that the film shows through character development. In the beginning we see that Barcelona’s world of hidden slavery is controlled by individuals that (like Uxbal) refuse to see the harm being done. However, his approximating journey to the afterlife, allows him to become aware of not only of children’s suffering, but also the abused workers. The character’s transformation from a morally unconscious individual to a more righteous father affects the way he perceives his short life and children. Even though Uxbal had to endure the painful agony of his illness and the dragging guilt of his mistakes, he maintained his composure with a tenacious grip on life to protect his family from suffering. Ultimately, Uxbal’s last request was for his children to remember the loving father he tried to be showing how his last thoughts remained on Ana and Mateo.
Additionally, the film’s cinematography reinforces the affection the anguished protagonist shows for his children. For example, the camera does an excellent job of manipulating the viewers’ emotions by playing intriguing music that sets a sorrowful mood. The most stirring moments occurred near the end when the camera adds a heart beating sound every time Ana hugged his father. Afterwards, while Uxbal sits in the bathroom waiting for Ige to comeback, he sees his own spirit walking around; a symbol of his nearing death and growing frustration. Later on, we discover that the beginning scene when Uxbal explains the meaning of the ring to Anna is actually the scene when Uxbal is dying and spending his last minutes with his daughter. The camera cleverly portrays his death by showing his lifeless body in bed and unrestful spirit standing next to the wall. As Anna distanced voice stops, Uxbal finds himself in woods of glistening white snow with his father who takes him to the journey of the afterlife. The supernatural snow serves as the setting of the afterlife and a reminder that his father died of pneumonia.
Although Buitiful is a lengthy movie, it conveys the struggle of a father and his perishing life in the underground slavery of Barcelona. Biutful is not a movie that brings happiness and humor to the viewer, but rather insight and sorrow. The ideal viewer should be prepared the face the horrendous facts of our modern world and enter to a constant rollercoaster of emotions. I believe the acting completed the plot in a way that made the viewer contemplate what lays between our love for our dear ones and afterlife.