Biiutiful Sparknotes

In between Love and Afterlife
In the shadows of our contemporary society there lays a monster thought of being long destroyed, but is in reality stronger than ever. The vicious monster inflicts pain and death on millions of victims. The truth is modern slavery is the dark monster that preys on the vulnerable individuals and devastates families. The movie Biutiful, directed by Alejandro Gonzales, does an extraordinary job of depicting the topic of modern slavery in Barcelona through the struggles of a torn family. Additionally, the trailer appeals the viewer to watch the movie by providing a mysterious and intense sensation through rapid clips from the movie. Biutiful successfully portrays a moving story of a dying father’s unconditional love for his children as he tries to ensure their safety before he journeys to the afterlife.
As Uxbal ponders over the future of his children without a father, he gives in to his manic wife’s idea of living with her as a family. Throughout the movie we learn that Uxbal makes a living using his psychic gift of talking to the death and contracting Chinese and African immigrants to do barbarous work for hardly any money. By pity and desire for absolution before he dies, Uxbal buys heaters for the exploited immigrants to endure the cold nights that later on leak and leave the workers on an eternal sleep. The guilt overwhelms our dying protagonist as he decides his bipolar wife is not suited to take care of his children and returns to his apartment where an African mother, Ige (Diarytou Daff), is sheltered. Until Uxbal’s death, Ige takes care of the children and promises to protect them with the money Uxbal leaves