Finding Hope in Tragedy
Monteverde's First Film a Masterpiece
David Daleiden
Last Updated: 5/1/08 Section: Books and Arts
MY GRANDMOTHER ALWAYS USED TO SAY, 'IF you want to make God smile, tell Him your plans.'" So begins Mexican director Alejandro Monteverde's new drama, Bella, which has the makings of a cultural masterpiece.
Bella, Monteverde's first film, is set in New York City and centers around the relationship between Jose and Nina, two workers at a Mexican restaurant owned by Jose's brother. Jose, once an aspiring soccer star, is now a chef with a tragic past, while Nina, a waitress, is fired the same day she discovers that she is unexpectedly pregnant. The movie's plot unfolds primarily over the course of the next twenty-four hours, as Nina struggles to find how to piece her life back together and Jose does his best to support her.
The characters in Bella strongly illustrate the movie's tagline, "True love goes beyond romance." In Nina and Jose's relationship, any possible romantic attraction is simply irrelevant to the larger point: true love is a choice, not a feeling. Love is willing the good of the other, and Jose chooses for the good of Nina and her unborn child even at great cost to himself. Jose sacrifices his own job to accompany Nina through the rest of the day, caring for her when no one else-neither her own family nor the father of her child-will.
Indeed, one of Bella's great strengths is the realism with which it depicts Nina's struggle. Women who submit to an abortion do so because it seems like the only choice left to them. "Abortion is a reflection that our society has failed to meet the needs of women," says the organization Feminists for Life. In Bella, Nina expresses this frustration to Jose, bitterly recounting how the father of her unborn child simply told her to "get it taken care of" when informed of her crisis pregnancy.
Sadly, cases like Nina's are typical for American women. A 2005 Alan Guttmacher Institute study revealed that nearly half of women surveyed at major abortion providers cited having relationship difficulties or not wanting to be a single mother as a reason for resorting to abortion. Fortunately for Nina, Jose provides the compassionate support denied to her by her family, her boyfriend, and her society.
Jose brings Nina to his family's home for the day, and she finds herself suddenly immersed in an environment of familial joy - one radically different from her own family experience. Jose's parents treat Nina as one of their own, welcoming her into their lives when she feels rejected by the world. Over dinner, Nina learns that one of Jose's brothers was adopted when Jose's parents could not have children of their own. Again, Bella subtly alludes to another sad reality of abortion in the United States: while as many as two million infertile couples wait to adopt children, only around one hundred thousand infants remain available for adoption, and every year, over a million healthy babies are aborted.
Perhaps most refreshing about Bella, however, is the film's unrelenting focus on the good, yet entirely ordinary and believable, parts of human nature. The characters are certainly not perfect and their virtues not superhuman, but the film refuses to define humanity by its flaws. One can almost perceive Alejandro echoing Augustine: "nature is wounded, not destroyed." It is from this hopeful conviction that Bella derives its power. • DAVID DALEIDEN IS A FRESHMAN AT CMC.
Bella, Monteverde's first film, is set in New York City and centers around the relationship between Jose and Nina, two workers at a Mexican restaurant owned by Jose's brother. Jose, once an aspiring soccer star, is now a chef with a tragic past, while Nina, a waitress, is fired the same day she discovers that she is unexpectedly pregnant. The movie's plot unfolds primarily over the course of the next twenty-four hours, as Nina struggles to find how to piece her life back together and Jose does his best to support her.
The characters in Bella strongly illustrate the movie's tagline, "True love goes beyond romance." In Nina and Jose's relationship, any possible romantic attraction is simply irrelevant to the larger point: true love is a choice, not a feeling. Love is willing the good of the other, and Jose chooses for the good of Nina and her unborn child even at great cost to himself. Jose sacrifices his own job to accompany Nina through the rest of the day, caring for her when no one else-neither her own family nor the father of her child-will.
Indeed, one of Bella's great strengths is the realism with which it depicts Nina's struggle. Women who submit to an abortion do so because it seems like the only choice left to them. "Abortion is a reflection that our society has failed to meet the needs of women," says the organization Feminists for Life. In Bella, Nina expresses this frustration to Jose, bitterly recounting how the father of her unborn child simply told her to "get it taken care of" when informed of her crisis pregnancy.
Sadly, cases like Nina's are typical for American women. A 2005 Alan Guttmacher Institute study revealed that nearly half of women surveyed at major abortion providers cited having relationship difficulties or not wanting to be a single mother as a reason for resorting to abortion. Fortunately for Nina, Jose provides the compassionate support denied to her by her family, her boyfriend, and her society.
Jose brings Nina to his family's home for the day, and she finds herself suddenly immersed in an environment of familial joy - one radically different from her own family experience. Jose's parents treat Nina as one of their own, welcoming her into their lives when she feels rejected by the world. Over dinner, Nina learns that one of Jose's brothers was adopted when Jose's parents could not have children of their own. Again, Bella subtly alludes to another sad reality of abortion in the United States: while as many as two million infertile couples wait to adopt children, only around one hundred thousand infants remain available for adoption, and every year, over a million healthy babies are aborted.
Perhaps most refreshing about Bella, however, is the film's unrelenting focus on the good, yet entirely ordinary and believable, parts of human nature. The characters are certainly not perfect and their virtues not superhuman, but the film refuses to define humanity by its flaws. One can almost perceive Alejandro echoing Augustine: "nature is wounded, not destroyed." It is from this hopeful conviction that Bella derives its power. • DAVID DALEIDEN IS A FRESHMAN AT CMC.
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