Bella

This Movie is one of the cleanest movies I have seen in a long while. There is minimal language ("gosh" is spoken once and "hell" is used once in a fit of anger). There are no sex scenes. There is a little bit of violence, but it is used to realistically carry the story on. Furthermore, it has Christian values in it.

I was intrigued by a sign that a blind man beggar had behind him, "God closed my eyes. Now I can see." So many times we won't listen to God, and it takes something more to make us heed Him. As backwards as it sounds, his weak and helpless state is nothing compared to the glory that awaits him.

**Spoiler Alert**

Throughout the movie the two main characters also have endured their share of hardships. Jose was on his way to sign a two million dollar soccer contract, when his life was turned upside down. He accidentally hit a little girl with his car, and spent the next four years in jail for involuntary manslaughter. He lost his passion for soccer, and never played again.

He grows a beard, exchanges his snazzy suit for the grubby apparel of a chef, and is mysteriously quiet. His eyes seem thoughtful, and it is not uncommon to see a distant look in them. One day his brother fires Nina, one of his waitresses, on account of her re-occurring tardiness and sick days. Little did he know that Nina was battling morning sickness.

Jose takes an interest in her plight. His pain seems to have created an understanding for her suffering. He walks out on his brother and spends the day talking with her. I am not sure that I would commend his leaving his brother, but I agree that are times in life when certain things do take precedence over the other.

At any rate, he spends the day listening to Nina. She strikes me as a selfish and hardened individual. When Jose comments that paella has lots of nutrients for babies, she states "I am not having a baby." Throughout the day she proceeds to tell him why she wants to have an abortion. The observer can tell that this pains him, but he listens to her patiently.

As the evening draws to a close, they lie on a sandy beach staring up at the stars. "I can't have this baby and have it suffer with me," she says, after telling him what her life was like without a father. The next morning she leaves, appearing to be heading to the abortion clinic. He staggers into the restaurant and makes breakfast for himself and his brother. He whispers something in his brother's ear that presumably is his intention to adopt Nina's baby.

The scene closes and the next scene starts with Jose playing on the beach with a little girl "Bella." The movie had begun with the same scene, and it becomes clear that the beginning and ends of the movie take place in the present but everything else in between is flashback memories. A few scenes from earlier in the movie come back to mind. There is a rather disjointed memory where Jose had gone to the abortion clinic and Nina was sitting with him crying. It didn't make a lot of sense at the time, but by the end of the movie all the pieces fit together.

Jose has indeed adopted Nina's baby and is raising her on his own. In a sense, giving life to this little girl has brought restitution for the other girl's life that he took. The name Bella means "beautiful," and something beautiful has come out of all painful experiences the characters in the movie experienced.

** Additional Thoughts added later**
This movie taught me a lot about how I am to view and react to the sins of others around us. Sometimes hardships come into our lives through our own mistakes, but we aren't to berate others for their mistakes. Yes, sometimes confrontation is necessary, but even more important is a listening ear.

Ben said it made him ponder the importance of being quiet, saying that maybe he talked too much when he should have been listening or thinking. To him Jose's eyes seemed to show that he spent much of his time in a contemplative mode.