Bella Means "Beautiful"

Drop all of your plans this weekend, get a babysitter, and GO SEE the movie, Bella, winner of the People's Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival! The thing is, it's only being released for a two-week run in select theaters. In order for it to receive a nationwide release, people must see it the SECOND WEEK of its release (that's what the movie business requires in order for it to run nationwide). I'm telling you this movie is a phenomenal piece of film art! I have to see it again!

The following is a great description, and background about the movie, written by Karl Keating:

"...It was even better than represented to be. "Bella" is an intensely pro-life and pro-family film, yet the terms "pro-life" and "abortion" never appear in it. In no way preachy or propagandistic, the film conveys a strong message that love can overcome brokenness and that old sorrows do not have to be compounded with new sorrows.

In "Bella" Tammy Blanchard plays a waitress who is fired on the day she discovers she is pregnant. Eduardo Verastegui, a chef at the same restaurant, befriends her, losing his own job in the process. She comes from an unhappy home and does not want a child; he comes from a happy home but years before had his own life changed through a terrible accident. During the course of a day together each one begins a recovery...

And that is all I want to say about the plot, not wanting to be accused of being a spoiler.

I do want to say, though, that this is a remarkable movie, in several ways. It won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival last year. Severino and the other principals behind the movie thought themselves lucky even to have "Bella" shown at the festival, which often showcases films that go on to win Oscars. They expected nothing because they were movie novices. "Bella" was a first-time effort for the producers, the director, the screenwriters, and for many of the actors.

Severino and the others behind the film are devout Catholics, several of them having come to or back to the Church only in recent years. Verastegui, with Severino and director Alejandro Monteverde worked on this project that all three felt Providence called them to engage in.

I hope he and his partners have much success with this film--first, because it really is a fine production and deserves to be recognized as such, and, second, because, if the movie succeeds, these fellows intend to produce more films of the same high caliber--high both in production values and in serious, morally uplifting content.

So here comes my request to you: Go and see "Bella." Take your entire family with you. Take your friends with you, if you have friends. Take strangers with you, if you do not have friends. But do not go during the first week. Go during the second week to help that trend line.

To find out whether you are in one of the 31 markets where the film debuts this weekend, visit www.bellathemovie.com , where you will find a list of cities and, for each city, a list of theaters where "Bella" will be shown. Once you have seen "Bella," talk it up to everyone on your e-mail list, and visit our forums and participate in discussions about the film.

Here's another trailer just in case you aren't convinced yet. Go see it this week!