Bella

I watched a beautiful movie (DVD)with my parents tonight called "Bella". Out in 2007, though I'm not sure it made it to the theaters around here last year.

Bella is about a young woman, Nina, living and working in NYC, who discovers she is pregnant. She has told no one, but is fired from her waitressing job, for lateness x3, which is actually due to morning sickness. Nina has no family to speak of, nor anyone else to turn to for support, and seeing no point in bringing a child into her troubled life, has decided on an abortion. At the same time one of the cooks, Jose,( a gorgeous actor who looks like Jesus and probably played him at one time), sees how poorly she has been treated and witnesses her being fired by none other than his adopted brother, Manny, who owns the joint. She turns and runs down the street, dropping a small webkins looking stuffed animal.

Jose sees all of this, and goes after her. In the subway turnstile thing she confides in him that she is pregnant, and they wind up spending the day together. He takes her, by train out to Long Island to his family's home and they are invited to stay for dinner. You already know, from various flashbacks, that Jose is carrying his own heavy load of guilt related to an accident he had been involved in years before. He later confides this to her. Just talking about it is a release for him, which marks the beginning of his own healing.

The movie is shot in time lapses some from the past, others from the future, all giving the impression that the present moment is this one day that these two are spending together. He's sharing his family with her, they are going to stay for dinner, his mom takes her upstairs and offers her a change of clothes ( shes still in her fancy dress uniform).The next thing you see, Norah's ( I believe the actress is Norah Jones), is taking a bubble bath, kind of weird to me when someone says they just have to 'freshen up' and the next scene has them soaking in a tub.

Time out. For me, tubs are messy and time consuming. Water is everywhere. I just don't picture myself EVER getting into a tub the first time I visit a guy's parent's home. In fact, unless you are shooting a scene somewhere in the old country, the probability of a near stranger freshening up in your tub is very low. I saw Julia Roberts do the same thing in 'Sleeping with the Enemy'. She was in some small town, an old farm house, up in the claw foot tub. But she tells the guy just moments before, that she'll be down in 20 minutes. Wait here on the porch. I just need to freshen up... and there she is soaking in a tub. Who does that? If I had someone over here, and they told me they were going to freshen up, and i hear the tub running I'd be like, " What the heck, who said anything about a bath?" It's just not done. Not in my tub.

So there is this big dinner and she's sensing all of the love and joy, sitting around the table talking and laughing. Then she's checking out Jose's trophies...evidently he was all set to play professional soccer when the accident occurred. The father really likes Nina and thanks her for bring her son out of his rut,( in one day?), and pretty soon, she's ready to go home but he asks her to come to the beach, where they are able to open up a little. It's dark, but they have these cool lights, and it's warm out and peaceful. It's really quite beautiful and romantic. I love the beach at night.

Ok there was none of this pawing at each other crap. Not that that's a bad thing but anything meaningful takes time and opening up. Movies should show ideal relationships...and not have to cater to what everyone else is doing in the world. They should bring people up. The best stories create a sense of timing. Love stories are all about timing really, right? Okay so...

There they are on the beach. There's certainly an attraction, but he just feels for her. Just a nice bonding thing between friends. Just talking. We all just need someone to talk to and/or be quiet with. It was all very comforting. The way they did the scene with was very symbolic...in fact there is a lot of symbolism in this movie.

Anyway, She shares her crummy past and he listens to it. You get the feeling that he is not judging her but really wishes she would let the baby live. It's connected with what he went through. You can see he's thinking, figuring. Not pushing her. Just being there. Wanting something more for her. She is starting to feel close to him and trusts him...this is the beginning of something more precious than a quickie in the sand. A relationship based in trust and friendship, that will affect both of them for the rest of their lives. Did I share too much?

It's just really beautiful, with a very positive message and a sweet ending. I teared up here and there. Such a sap.