Inarritu: From Babel to Biutiful

Following the genius of his 2006 film Babel, director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu offers what many reviewers are calling one of the best films to come out of this year’s Cannes film festival.

“ Warm applause and plenty of tears at a press screening on Monday at the Cannes film festival, where [Biutiful] is in the main competition, suggest it is one of the early favorites for awards, with Bardem in the frame for best actor,” Reuter’s reported this week.

In [Biutiful], Javier Bardem (one of my favorite actors) plays Uxbal, the main character in Inarritu’s Spanish-language drama about a man in Barcelona who earns money by giving messages to the loved ones of recently deceased people. Biutiful also focuses on immigrant workers who struggle to survive in a place where they’re treated inhumanely.

Inarritu told Reuters that death is a topic that he examines in all of his films. Other reviews of the movie discuss the depressing and riveting journey that Uxbal goes on in the story.

The director says that people ignore the inevitability of aging and dying. "We are sick, the society is really sick, we are going in the wrong direction," he said.
I’d have to agree.

Thankfully, the closer I grow to God, the less afraid I am of death. As a matter of fact, the more I invite spirituality into my life, the fonder I become of the idea of death. Of course, I don't want to fall in love with that idea -- I plan to live to be at least 100. (God willing!)

So, I’m looking forward to seeing Biutiful. If it’s anything like Inarritu’s Babel, it promises to move us and take us on an emotional ride.

Check out the synopsis at Festival de Cannes.