By: debbie lynn elias
BIUTIFUL is the type of film that doesn’t come around too often. It doesn’t leave your mind, or your heart, long after the curtain comes down. It stays with you. The complexity of the main character, Uxbal, set against the simplicity of the film’s thematic elements, propels one into an emotionally charged relationship with Uxbal; a relationship that is only enhanced by the singular excellence of Javier Bardem. Uxbal is intriguing, fascinating, soulful and yes, even spiritual. Not only the character’s construction, but Bardem’s performance, have you unconsciously studying Uxbal’s methods and manners and as the film progresses, striving to understand his heart and his mind. Uxbal is a beautifully complex character who, when stripped bare, is a man of heart; a beautiful heart, in a BIUTIFUL film.
Uxbal is a single father. Divorced from his wife Marambra, he has two small children whom he loves dearly, who live with their mother; a mother who is bipolar and when medicated, able to raise her children, but when off her meds, goes to the farthest extremes of unacceptability – leaving the children alone, whoring in the streets, drinking, sleeping with Uxbal’s brother. And when this happens, Uxbal steps in and brings his children to live with him, as there is no sacrifice too great for them. To many, a father taking his children from an unfit mother, would not be a big deal, but when you are a father dying of cancer, everything has a different perspective as life and preservation of his children’s lives and futures become the driving force of what days he has remaining on this Earth.
Making a living hustling outside the bounds of the law, Uxbal brokers illegal Chinese immigrants as cheap labor but at the same time fights for their better living conditions; he takes percentages from African street vendors whom he protects by paying off dirty cops and thus affording the Afrikans an opportunity to make a better life and living for themselves; and he uses his gift of speaking with the dead as a means of adding to his own bounty. An emotionally conflicted and tormented man, on one hand he fights for the underprivileged and poverty stricken yet, in his own way, then exploits them. And then he wonders why. Why has God been so unkind to him? Why is he taking him away from his children with this terrible disease? And it is the very answer that propels Uxbal into a journey of redemption, illumination and appreciation and understanding of the circle of life..
In what is one of the finest performances of the year, not to mention in his own career, Javier Bardem is extraordinary as Uxbal. You can’t turn away from him. He commands the screen; each scene; each frame. With the most expressive (and beautiful) of eyes, Bardem shows conviction and determination while simultaneously breaking your heart. He is mesmerizing to watch. And as if watching Uxbal’s own personal torment and emotional journey isn’t enough, just watch Bardem interact with little Guillermo Estrella, who plays Uxbal’s little boy Mateo, or Diaryatou Daff or Ana Wagener, giving us windows of a great gentle strength or, in the case of scenes with Wagener, innocence of a lost little boy. This is the stuff that Oscars are made of. When I asked Bardem what drew him to BIUTIFUL and Uxbal, there was no hesitation in his response. “I am a huge fan of Alejandro’s works and I knew he was going to be an amazing actor’s director based on the performances that I saw in his movies. More important than that, because I’m not that kind of actor who gets crazy with names, was the material itself. The script, beautifully written by [Inarritu], and the character which is very complex and there were so many layers to convey that I knew it was going to be a hard, hard task but a rewarding one.” The proof is in the pudding as to Bardem’s personal rewards from this performance and that which he rewards us with.
As for the supporting cast, one of the greatest breakout moments of the year comes from Diaryatou Daff as Ige, a Sengalese woman left alone with a young infant when her husband is deported back to Senegal. Alone and homeless, Uxbal takes responsibility for Ige. Making her acting debut, Daff is herself a Senegalese immigrant who works as a hairdresser and knows first hand the problems and emotional worry that befalls immigrants to Barcelona. It is this personal life experience that makes her performance genuine and effortless, buoyed by lightness that helps bring BIUTIFUL full circle and into the light itself.
As Bea, veteran Ana Wagener provides a motherly conscience to Uxbal. Wagener wears her heart on her sleeve and her chemistry with Bardem is beyond endearing.
A real gem is Maricel Alvarez who tackles the very difficult role of Marambra. Working closely with Inarritu in an effort to authentically convey the trials and tribulations of one who is bipolar, she is electrifying.
Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and written by Inarritu and Armando Bo Nicolas Giacobone, BIUTIFUL is intricately woven on socio-political and multi-cultural plateaus, all of which come together in a delicious melding, much as the sea meets with the sand, washing into each and becoming one. And while the story is told through a character study of one man, Uxbal, the film is so much more. It is a character study of life and how it is affected by this one man. As comes as no surprise, Inarritu guides us through the waters of complexity with a guileless ease that only intensifies the power of Bardem’s performance and the emotional gravitas of the film as a whole.
As we have come to except from Inarritu, BIUTIFUL has a darkness to it. For many, the film may be about death. But for Inarritu, the film “[is] about observing life through death from the last point of it. Then life [has] more meaning or it’s more enjoyable, for me at least, that this is finished. It’s like if you go to a party. Or you go through the holidays. If you think the holidays will be forever, you just take it for granted. But if you know you have just three days at the beach, every day will be so happy for you to be there. That’s what I am writing. It’s not about death. It’s about life. It’s about to observe life differently.”
Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto works visual wonders giving us rich, lush palettes laced with light and shadows, adding visual texture to already nuanced characters and story. Vivid intensity that rivals the emotional is complimented with meticulously punctuating use of color. Where Prieto really excels, however, is with the use of close-ups that methodically show the physical and emotional demise of Bardem’s Uxbal. Riveting. According to Bardem, virtually all of the camera work was done by Prieto himself using hand-helds and shoulder mounts, thus allowing him to intensify the emotional journey of Uxbal.
Achieving the visuals and corresponding emotion is never an easy thing and each director has his own methods of attempting same. For Inarritu, “I know when we will change [camera shots from mid to close]. That’s pre-production decisions because that’s a big thing – when you have to change cameras, you have to have format, you have to change things. Everything is predetermined.” What makes Inarritu an exceptional director and storyteller, however, is his hands on involvement from start to finish. “I design visually the whole thing. I know when things will happen. I make little notes. I storyboard just for a couple of chase scenes, or things like that, that include a lot of action, a lot of complexity, and certain cameras. I have a long time with my understanding of how the camera will enhance the point of view…and what the camera should be doing to enhance the emotional force and object of the scene. Then I sit down with Rodrigo and we go scene by scene, knowing what we don’t have to lose or miss in terms of visual. I try to micro-observe every single thing and preconceive where the camera should be and what it should bring to the spirit.” It is this philosophy that stands out with the parallel between the visual grittiness and emotional depth.
Inarritu has captured more than just spirit with this film. BIUTIFUL is beautiful inside and out.
Uxbal – Javier Bardem
Marambra – Maricel Alvarez
Bea – Ana Wagener
Ige – Diaryatou Daff
Mateo – Guillermo Estrella
Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Written by Inarritu and Armando Bo Nicolas Giacobone.
