Hey, thanks for stopping by! I’m back again with another Letterboxd List review from a list that has not yet been covered. Being that TIFF is currently taking place, I figured why not be timely. That’s right, this week I am looking at the TIFF Audience Award Winners list. The result is a cautionary tale of going into a movie completely blind with… Bella (2006).
Title: Bella
Director: Alejandro Monteverde
Released: September 9, 2006 (United States)
Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes
Available to stream on: Tubi
Jose (Eduardo Verástegui) used to be a soccer star. That all changed when he plowed straight through a kid while behind the wheel. He served time and upon his release works as a chef in his brother Manny’s (Manny Perez) restaurant.
Meanwhile, Nina (Tammy Blanchard) is a waitress at the same restaurant and shows up late for the second day in a row. Manny fires her on the spot, not knowing that she’s been late due to morning sickness. That’s right, Nina is pregnant.
Turns out, Nina isn’t keen on having a kid. That doesn’t fly with Jose though. In an effort to force her into putting the kid up for adoption rather than having an abortion, he practically kidnaps her and parades her around his family.
It took me about three minutes to realize that something was off with Bella (2006). I couldn’t put my finger on it but it felt like cheap right-wing slop that Angel Studios would get behind. That’s when I looked up a little about the movie and learned that the director and the actors behind Jose and Manny were all involved in Sound of Freedom.
Well, at least I knew what I was in for.
But what was up with the TIFF audiences in 2006?
Bella (2006) is nothing more than a meandering and heavy-handed mess that served no other purpose than to push a pro-life agenda.
You know the drill, drop a comment below or hit me up on Bluesky and let me hear your thoughts on Bella (2006).
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