Perhaps it's because so much of today's news is bad and promotes fear, but I often feel a tug in the ol' heartstrings and/or a lump in the throat when I hear about a random act of kindness. While family and friends are expected to be there to help when times are rough, the unexpected generosity and aid provided by others always gets to me.
Accordingly, I'm something of a sucker for films that manage to convey that sort of out of the blue benevolence. The latest of them is "Bella," the small-scale tale of damaged souls helping each other through their issues that won the People's Choice Award at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.
And one can clearly see why it generated that reaction then and continues to do so, with audiences being exposed to this sweet and occasionally quite moving pic from writer/director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde and co-writer Patrick Million. Sporting a low-budget look and feel that actually works to its advantage (despite the inclusion of too many cut-away shots of the city and other such footage that begins to come off a little too much like filler), the film mostly takes place over a 24 or so hour period.
It's then that New York City waitress Nina (Tammy Blanchard) discovers not only that she's pregnant by a guy who's no longer in the picture, but also that her exacting boss, Manny (Manny Perez), has fired her for being late (oh, the irony of that term) to work. Things couldn't get much worse, especially with her tormented by believing she couldn't raise a child and watch it suffer with her.
Fortunately for her, the coworker she barely knows, chef José (Eduardo Verástegui), who just so happens to be Manny's brother, tags along to make sure she's okay. Although it's unclear if it's intentional or accidental, he sports something of a Jesus look and demeanor, and thus doesn't offer definite solutions to her problems. Instead, he's just there as a kind, fellow traveler for the day -- in short, a person to show her that all hope is not lost.
Of course, in standard movie fashion, he also has his baggage, something we automatically know since when we first see him, he's a dashing and clean-shaven soccer star on his way to an interview with his manager. We don't immediately see what happens next (the flashback comes later in the film, along with the revelation), but it doesn't take a film critic, let alone a rocket scientist, to figure he's similarly damaged.
In the wrongs hands (e.g. your standard Hollywood hack), this probably would have come off as cloyingly artificial to the point of being so manipulative most sense of reality would be trashed. While there are some issues -- mostly repeated gazing by the troubled man at children that, while appropriate for what occurred, is a little too obvious -- for the most part the rest of the film works.
The performances by Verástegui and Blanchard are understated and not flashy, and the chemistry between them (stemming from friendship and not budding love or lust) is believable. And the filmmakers keep the otherwise sparse and straightforward story interesting by occasionally jumping around through time, although not to the point of distraction.
The film appropriately and thematically opens with the old line about if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans, but my motto is if you want to engage me, show me those random acts of kindness. While some cynics might not buy into it or will criticize the simple story, there are enough heartwarming and surprisingly emotional moments (the last scene is a killer, prepare to be choked up, albeit in the good way), to make "Bella" a winning little picture. It rates as a 6 out of 10.
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