Mar adentro (2004). Una visión diferente seis años después del Óscar

Abstract

Several aspects of the Academy Award winning film The Sea Inside, by Alejandro Amenábar, are analyzed in this paper six years after it was awarded an Oscar. It is a widely known fact that this film tells the real story of a quadriplegic, Ramón Sampedro, emphasizing the vicissitudes the protagonist withstood before managing to put an end to his life. An analysis of the characters in the film is made; both popular and cinematographic reviews of it are discussed, and the image it conveys of disability is analyzed. Always respecting the protagonist’s personal choice, and conscious of the fact that the main topic is not disability but euthanasia, we offer a critical view of the approach to quadriplegia, and ultimately to spinal cord injury, offered in the film, since we believe that it indirectly highlights negative aspects, to the detriment of a positive approach to the experience of living with such a disability. In short, this film conveys an image that is opposed to what this team struggles to defend: namely, that disability, including spinal cord injury, is compatible with happiness.