Bella

From the desk of The Movie Snob

Bella (B). It is very difficult to give this movie a grade because it doesn't really feel like a movie. It has characters and a plot like a regular movie, but it feels more like an advocacy piece or a commercial. A Hispanic man who looks incredibly like the standardized image of Jesus is sitting on a beach. Although I didn't really realize it at the time, the movie almost immediately kicks into flashback, or two distinct flashbacks. In one flashback, a long time ago, the man (Jose) has just become a professional soccer player in New York City, and he is gleefully driving somewhere with his manager in a big, fancy car. In the other flashback, not so long ago, Jose is working as a chef in a nice restaurant, where Nina is a waitress. Nina is a young, single woman who has just found out she is pregnant, and she gets fired for chronic tardiness. After she gets fired, Jose walks off the job to talk with her. They spend the rest of the day together, gradually revealing more and more about themselves to each other. Although part of the drama is learning what happened to Jose's soccer career (which is no surprise, as the movie telegraphs it very early on), the main drama is whether Nina is going to have an abortion. Which takes me back to my opening remark--Bella is hard to view as a movie because the filmmakers' main goal is plainly to persuade; entertainment is secondary, or even incidental to their purpose. That said, I thought it was a reasonably well made film, but then I am in agreement with the filmmakers' pro-life, pro-adoption message. I'd be curious to hear about the reactions of people who are pro-choice or on the fence.