By Dave Montalbano
While nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, Biutiful will be remembered for the Best Performance nomination of Javier Bardem. It is the first time a performance entirely in Spanish has been nominated for an Academy Award. As Uxbal, Bardem is given a complicated role as father, husband, underworld broker and cancer patient. Bardem pulls off this complexity and is likely to give Jeff Bridges and Colin Firth a run for the golden idol.
Set in the black market district of Barcelona, Spain, Uxbal helps sweatshops find cheap labor. Neglecting his health, Uxbal’s untreated prostate cancer spreads to his liver, making his prognosis terminal. A single father with two children, Uxbal contemplates their future with their bi-polar mother. Despite his best intentions, Uxbal confronts consistent failure with every action.
Biutiful is one of the most depressing movies released since the Bush Admin-istration. It is a family movie about important things that are not said. Yet, there are moments of pure family joy between a son, a daughter, an estranged mother and a callow, but responsible father. It is these tragic and tender moments that give Biutiful a heart that will haunt the ticket buyer days after the movie concludes.
For those seeking a more uplifting experience, The Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery IMAX theater opens its new documentary, The Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3-D this weekend. Mixing Oceanography and surfing, it seeks to explain the confluence of natural forces that control wave creation in the oceans.
Surfer celebrity Kelly Slater challenges Tahiti’s most extreme surf break known as Teahupo’o. Located in the Pacific Ocean, the famed Teahupo’o is widely regarded as being on the ‘must-surf’ list of every real surfer.
Fortunately, Deerfield Beach neighbors have local surfing legend, Kali “da Big Kahuna” Montero, who will be offering surfing demonstration at the Museum. Before the afternoon screenings, Kali will talk about the history of surfing and Tahitian dance. Between shows, there will be a Polynesian Dancing show produced by the Polynesian Proud company, along with arts, crafts and Poi tasting.
In South Florida, we take for granted the festivities offered locally. Yet if one sees the poverty presented in a film like Biutiful, one appreciates how good we have it in the gold old U.S.A.
