Biutiful: a metaphysical tale of existence
15 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in Film Tags: Barcelona, immigration, Inarritu, Javier Bardem, magical realism, Oscar nominations 2011
Javier Bardem in his Oscar nominated role as Uxbal
Biutiful is the first Iñárritu’s film in his native language since his acclaimed Amores Perros in 2000. The film is the story of a man on the road to salvation in an inevitable decline. The film was shot in Barcelona Spain between October 2008 and February 2009 and took around three years to be developed.
The protagonist Uxbal is flawlessly portrayed by Javier Bardem as a dreadful hero; a father who struggles to reconcile with the crumbling reality of fatherhood, love, spirituality, crime, guilt and mortality in the underworld of the renowned Spanish city in an unavoidable destiny.
Biutiful is perfectly crafted in the portrayal of reality with its camera work (mostly handheld). The film creates an insightful journey of questioning oneself with current affairs of the twentieth first century and our own existence as human beings. Iñárritu’s film is quite social as it deals with themes rarely portrayed in cinema; the underworld of immigrant life in one of the most important cities in Spain. Biutiful is a film created around the limitations of society as it shows the human spirit in the act of survival of harmony and joy despite the social constraints. The film follows Inarritu’s tradition of showing the ways our existence is shaped by the consequences of our actions and that after all the goodness of human soul is still present through our contact with those who are near to us.
Even though Uxbal is a good man and a loving father, he also sustains a number of illegal rackets, but in principle he is a good man. However, his fate seems to have chosen quite a different course for him as where our common belief of chance or luck is meant to be. Iñarritu’s way of presenting us the character’s reality is quite exceptional in that it doesn’t disrupt our viewing yet it takes us places where reality merge with a parallel one in an inevitable journey to redemption. The film is emotional, yet there is no much dialogue; images speak for themselves, despite all coming from abnormal situations.
Biutiful appears to be instilled in the tradition of magical realism, particularly in the way superstition appears to be present in the film as well as the stories passed between generations and the search of an underworld to define existence lived in the material world. The film offers us with optimism as Iñárritu declared in the press conference at Cannes 2010 that “Although darkness is everywhere in the film, Biutiful gives us hope. Uxbal’s character is full of brightness as he teaches us on his journey to redemption to love”.
Biutiful is insightful and true in its power of depicting human actions. The film does not offer much in depth of character, but it is powerful in its own meaning. The Mexican director does give clues that maintain the audience’s interest in the discovery of the beauty of our own existence in this world.
