Bella

A film critic I am not. If you can feed me popcorn and peanut M&M’s, I’ll buy into your movie hook line and sinker. I’m notorious for liking nearly everything…at least in the moment. Later, on DVD or Apple TV (love that!), I am more critical of movies. Maybe it’s the lack of chocolate. But in any case, I’m not great at writing about movies.

Having said that, I watched the film Bella tonight, and I loved it. Here are the things I loved:

  • I loved that the director had a story he HAD to tell, and that he refused to compromise on his principles to tell it.
  • I naturally loved the pro-life, pro-adoption message in the movie, considering that we adopted both our children and I myself am adopted.
  • I appreciated the conflict of interest the filmmakers portrayed. I know the characters and dialogue were a little formulaic (I know…good critiquing-type word), but I felt like they had to be formulaic in order to represent the deeper realities the filmmakers wanted to bring out.
  • Deeper realities. Jose, the main character, exuded a love and caring that was the essence of being present in the moment while working for the kingdom. If you want a characterization of what it means to be missional and present in people’s lives, look at Jose. Without condemning, without even speaking a word sometimes, he held Nina to a higher standard and supported her in her choices.
  • Let’s not forget Jose’s amazing family. I appreciated that the latin family was so amazingly portrayed. I wanted to sit at their table with them. That table, by the way, was a great symbol of hospitality and warmth and inclusion.

And to be fair and balanced, let me point out a few things I didn’t like.

  • The characters and plot were certainly quite predictable.
  • Some of the editing choices seemed odd to me. I needed a few more transitions, I guess.
  • The pace of the movie was a tad slow. Don’t choose this one late at night.

All told, Bella was a great way to spend an evening tonight with my 18 year old daughter. Jose and his family demonstrated true community, true love. Anytime you can portray that in the movies, I’m in.