Movie Review: Bella

Sooner or later every one of us will face an irreversible moment that will change our lives forever. If it hasn’t happened to you yet… it will. BELLA is a true love story about how one day in New York City changed three people forever.

Bella starts off with Jose sitting on a beach watching a young girl play in the waves. He then flashes back his memories of two days that changed his life.

On the first day, he had just had his dreams of becoming a big soccer star come true; with his manager, he was going to sign a multi-million dollar contract with a soccer team. Then the accident that ends his career happens.

Five years later, Jose is a chef in his brother Manny’s restaurant, a quiet, passionless man still living in the memories of that day. Nina is one of Manny’s waitresses. As Manny prepares his restaurant and staff for a big day, she is late for work. It’s the third time this has happened, so when she arrives, Manny fires her—without bothering to find out the reason she’s been sick and late.

Jose follows Nina out of the restaurant and spends the day wandering New York with her, listening to her talk about her problems. She’s a single, pregnant, unemployed woman in New York. It seems only one option is open to her: abortion.

Jose seemed a Christ-figure to me, in more ways that his beard and gentle expression. While Manny sees the people in his restaurant simply as employees, Jose knows them and their problems. His compassion for Nina leads him to risk his own job to help her out, just as Jesus would have reached out to the many women who asked for His help.

The end of Bella returns to Jose on the beach, some four or five years after that fateful day. It is an expected and yet unexpected ending that completely fit this beautiful story.

This movie wrestles with some big issues and does a good job of it. If you haven’t see it yet, I heartily recommend it.