Thursday Movie Picks: Non-English Language Movies - Spanish

Welcome to another episode of Thursday Movie Picks, the weekly series hosted by Wandering through the Shelves where you pick three films each week to fit the theme of that week. 

This week's topic is movies in Spanish. Finally an easy one for me! I love the Spanish language, I love the way it sounds, and lucky me there are plenty of native Spanish speakers directors that are worth checking out. My picks for the week are a tribute to three great filmmakers as well as to three great films. Without further ado, I leave you with them.

All About My Mother // Todo sobre mi madre (1999)

The complicated story of the complicated life of Manuela, a woman who has just lost her son and travels back to Barcelona to tell the boy's transgender father about the death of the son he never knew he had. Pedro Almodóvar uses this story to pay a huge homage to all women, whether born a woman or a man, and teaches to accept ourselves for who we are and the others for who they are, even if they are different. Ultimately, it is a beautiful, moving hymn to life. 

The Sea Inside // Mar adentro (2004)

After an accident that left his paraplegic, Ramon spends his time looking out of the window and writing poetry. After 25 years of living in this way, he tries a legal battle against the Spanish government for the right of euthanasia. Alejandro Amenábar's film is one of the most heartbreaking I've ever seen, and he handles the euthanasia matter without taking sides. Javier Bardem delivers one of his finest performances as he wonderfully conveys Ramon's feelings. 

Biutiful (2010)

As he is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Uxbal finds his life in chaos as he has to deal with the depressed and abusive mother of his children, and escape the heat of crime in underground Barcelona. Alejandro Iñárritu brings to the screen a raw and intense drama that is both engaging and upsetting and that beautifully portrays the ugly beauty of life on two levels: the ugly side of big cities made of poverty, hunger and suffering, and the drama of a man that comes face to face with his life and death. And Javier Bardem gives another outstanding performance.