Review of film: “BIUTIFUL” -- A film about lives that are the OPPOSITE of that

Review of film:  “BIUTIFUL”  --  A film about lives that are the OPPOSITE of that description

This is the latest film by director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, known for “BABEL” (2006), “21 GRAMS” (2003), & “AMORES PERROS” (2000)… 

…  The title is meant to be deeply IRONIC, because the lives of the people involved are the OPPOSITE of the phonetically-spelled description in the title… Uxbal (JAVIER BARDEM) is a man obsessed with death, & lives a life on the “EDGE”…

…  Javier lives in a run-down apartment & is always trying to find a way to get more MONEY.  He supplies ILLEGALS with “ways” they can work--  Africans such as Ekweme (CHEIKH NDIAYE) who works in the outdoor markets trying to sell goods (& whose sub-agents sometimes seem to include DRUGS in their offerings)… 

…  Also working with Javier are some Chinese people like Hai (CHENG TAI SHEN).  His main contact is a man who runs a “sweatshop” using poor Chinese people to make “RIP-OFF” copies of clothes & CDs & the like.  While those people are poorly paid (& secretly live in a room at the factory), they are supposedly way better off than they’d be in China itself working for “50 cents a day”…

…  Part of Javier’s “contact” work is paying-off a COP to look the “other way” about the African & other illegals…  One reason Javier works so hard is, he is taking care of his two young kids— 10-year-old daughter Ana (HANAA BOUCHAIB), & her younger brother Mateo (GUILLERMO ESTRELLA) who likes to stuff his mouth with food…

…  The reason Javier has custody of the kids is, his divorced wife Marambra (MARICEL ALVAREZ) is UNRELIABLE— being bi-polar, periodically manic, & possibly a “whore”…  He has a brother, Tito (EDUARD FERNANDEZ)--  but it’s clear he can’t be TRUSTED very much.  They’re both trying to get money by selling their father’s “niche” in a cemetery…

…  If his life wasn’t tough enough due all the “everyday” difficulties, Javier is also critically ILL--  tho he doesn’t want people close to him to know that…  In many ways, he appears to be a GOOD person, sincerely concerned (to a certain degree) about the lives of his “contacts”, including Ekweme’s wife Ige (DIARYATOU DAFF) who helps him with his own kids…

…  The story revolves around the continuing HARDSHIPS Javier must deal with…  Will his health get better?...  Will his wife become more trustworthy?...  Will his unlawful activities get him into TROUBLE (either legally or “morally”)?...

…  It’s a finely-told and acted story--  tho a DEPRESSING one in many ways…  The movie has been nominated for 2 OSCARS®, for Best Foreign Language Film and for Javier in the Best Performance by  an Actor in a Leading Role…

…  The nominations are DESERVED (such as for all the multiple levels of suffering Javier must go thru--  tho I don’t think it was as good as Jesse Eisenberg’s role in “THE SOCIAL NETWORK” or Colin Firth’s in “THE KING’S SPEECH”)…

…  Because of the impressive work in showing the hard lives of the “un-documented” & lower classes, I am giving the film 8.25 out of 10 stars…

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