''Bella'' is a 2006 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

co-written, co-produced, and directed by

Alejandro Gomez Monteverde Alejandro is the Spanish form of the name Alexander. Alejandro has multiple variations in different languages, including Aleksander (Czech, Polish), Alexandre ( French), Alexandros (Greek), Alsander (Irish), Alessandro (Italian), Aleksandr (Rus ...

, starring

Eduardo Verastegui Eduardo is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the male given name Edward. Another version is Duarte. It may refer to: Association football * Eduardo Bonvallet, Chilean football player and sports commentator * Eduardo Carvalho, Portuguese footb ...

and

Tammy Blanchard Tammy Blanchard (born December 14, 1976) is an American actress. She rose to prominence for her role as teenage Judy Garland in the critically acclaimed television film '' Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows'' (2001), for which she received ...

. Set in New York City, the film is about the events of one day and the impact on the characters' lives.

Plot

In New York City, José works as a cook in a Mexican restaurant owned by his stern chef brother, Manny. The establishment is getting ready Isabella 9 year-old girl the waitress, arrives late for the second day in a row and Manny fires her on the spot. As Isabella leaves, she drops her

teddy bear A teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy bear, ...

; José retrieves it and chases her into the subway to hand it back. When asked why she was late, she tells him she is pregnant and was ill from

morning sickness Morning sickness, also called nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP), is a symptom of pregnancy that involves nausea or vomiting. Despite the name, nausea or vomiting can occur at any time during the day. Typically the symptoms occur between th ...

. José offers her a stroll around the city, which she accepts. He takes Isabella to Manny's colleague's restaurant to recommend her for a waitressing position. While they dine to wait for the response, Isabella tells him she does not intend to proceed with her pregnancy and is seriously considering an abortion partly because the father is uninterested in supporting her and she is broke. Isabella agrees to go with him to the beach but José says he has to go back to the restaurant and get his wallet. When he returns, Manny rebukes him for flaking at work for Isabella. After José argues with his brother over his oppressive demeanor, Manny fires him. José then boards a train with Isabella to his home. During the trip he persuades Isabella to give up the unborn child for adoption, but she argues in favor of autonomy over her body. José takes her to his parents' house and introduces her to his family. He takes Isabella into the garage and shows her his old car which, a few years ago, he reveals he had been driving with his manager during the peak of his career as a soccer player, and accidentally hit and killed a little girl. His manager frantically suggested fleeing the crime, but he instead chose to take responsibility. José was then sentenced to four years in prison for

involuntary manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th c ...

. After being released, he tried unsuccessfully multiple times to reconcile with the girl's single mother, and the tragedy has since left him depressed and suicidal. José's parents invite Isabella to have dinner, during which time she finds out that Manny was adopted. They tell her she is always welcome to stay at their house. José takes Isabella to the nearby beach, where she tells him how her father's death when she was twelve caused her and her mother severe emotional pain. Because she had no siblings and spent her childhood taking care of her emotionally crippled mother, she tells José how fortunate he is to have a loving family, and hopes someday she would meet a man who loves her and is as capable of raising a family as her father was. The next day, before they each go their own way, Isabella says she needs a friend to be there for her the next week. José walks back to the restaurant and reconciles with Manny. Several years later, José is seen playing on a beach with a young girl. When Isabella arrives she meets what is implied to be her daughter, Bella, whom she had considered aborting but then gave over for José to adopt. Mother and daughter exchange gifts, Isabella tearfully giving Bella the teddy bear her father had gifted her as a child, while Bella hands Isabella a

seashell A seashell or sea shell, also known simply as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer usually created by an animal or organism that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are often found washe ...

. Afterward, all three stroll down the beach together.

Cast

Eduardo Verástegui José Eduardo Verástegui Córdoba (; born May 21, 1974) is a Mexican producer and actor. He was part of band Kairo and later a solo music career, before he started appearing in Mexican telenovelas and eventually feature films like ''Chasing Papi ...

as José *

as Isabella *

Manny Pérez Manuel Pérez "Manny" Batista (born May 5, 1969) is a Dominican American actor who has appeared in the television series ''Third Watch'' and in the film '' Washington Heights''. He is the cousin of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz. L ...

as Manny *

Ali Landry Ali Germaine Landry (born July 21, 1973) is an American actress, model, and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 1996. She played Rita Lefleur on the UPN sitcom '' Eve'' and was the Doritos Girl in a 1998 Super Bowl commercial. In 1998, ...

as Celia * Ramón Rodríguez as Eduardo *

Angélica Aragón Angélica Espinoza Stransky (born 11 July 1953), known as Angélica Aragón (), is a Mexican film, television and stage actress and singer. She is daughter of the Mexican composer José Ángel Espinoza "Ferrusquilla". She is recognized for her p ...

as José's Mother *

Ewa Da Cruz Ewa Da Cruz (born Ewa Benedicte Övre Skulstad; July 9, 1977) also known as Ewa Skulstad or Ewa Benedicte Övre Skulstad, is a Norwegian-American television, soap opera and film actress. Da Cruz is best known for her portrayal of the high-roller ...

as Veronica * Alexa Gerasimovich as Luchi *

Sophie Nyweide Sophie Nyweide ( ; born July 8, 2000) is an American child actress best known for her roles in ''Bella'', ''Mammoth'' and ''An Invisible Sign''. Career Nyweide's major motion picture debut was as the eponymous lead character in Alejandro Gome ...

as Bella *

Herbie Lovelle Herbie Lovelle (1 June 1924 - April 8, 2009) was an American drummer, who played jazz, R&B, rock, and folk. He was also a studio musician and an actor. Lovelle's uncle was the drummer Arthur Herbert. Lovelle began his career with the trumpeter ...

as The Blind Homeless Man

Production

''Bella'' marks the feature directorial debut for

, who co-wrote its original screenplay with Patrick Million. ''Bella'' features Manuel Perez,

Angelica Aragon ''Angelica'' is a genus of about 60 species of tall biennial and perennial herbs in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, reaching as far north as Iceland, Lapland, and Greenland. They grow ...

, Jaime Terelli,

and

. The film was produced by Sean Wolfington,

, Leo Severino,

, and Denise Pinckley. Executive producers were J. Eustace Wolfington, Sean Wolfington, Ana Wolfington and

Stephen McEveety Stephen Mark "Steve" McEveety (born November 4, 1954) is an American film producer, who has over 40 years experience in senior positions in the entertainment industry. McEveety is one of six children, and attended Notre Dame High School and L ...

. It was financed by producers Sean Wolfington and Eustace Wolfington. Stephen McEveety, producer of ''

Braveheart ''Braveheart'' is a 1995 American historical drama film directed and produced by, and starring Mel Gibson. Gibson portrays Sir William Wallace, a late-13th century Scottish warrior who led the Scots in the First War of Scottish Independence ag ...

'' and ''

The Passion of the Christ ''The Passion of the Christ'' is a 2004 American epic biblical drama film produced, directed and co-written by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus of Nazareth, Maia Morgenstern as Mary, mother of Jesus, and Monica Bellucci as Mary M ...

'', consulted on the script; after the film was finished, he signed on as an executive producer to help market it. ''Bella'' is McEveety's first release under his new company

Mpower Pictures Mpower Pictures is the production company of David Segel, Stephen McEveety, John Shepherd, and Todd Burns. Mpower Pictures was launched with '' Bella'' (2006), winner of the Toronto Film Festival People's Choice Award, produced in association ...

. ''Bella'' was produced by Metanoia Films.

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

and

Roadside Attractions Roadside Attractions is an American production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff, specializing largely in independent films. Lionsgate Lions Gate ...

acquired United States distribution rights to the film and released it on October 26, 2007.

Reception

The review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives the film a score of 43% based on reviews from 65 critics, and a weighted average of 5.39/10. The website's critical consensus is, "Critics labeled ''Bella'' as a simplistic and mostly pedestrian, but positive word of mouth gave this tiny indie surprising theatrical legs." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has an average score of 47 out of 100 based on 18 reviews from critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Robert Koehler of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote, "with its storyline based on such inexplicable behavior, ''Bella'' is seriously behind the dramatic eight ball, and trusts that the effective chemistry between the two leads will help auds ignore the many narrative potholes."

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said in a less favorable review, "if ''Bella'' (the title doesn’t make sense until the last scene) is a mediocre cup of mush, the response to it suggests how desperate some people are for an urban fairy tale with a happy ending, no matter how ludicrous."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' gave the film 3 stars out of 4, describing it as: "a heart-tugger with the confidence not to tug too hard." He concluded his review by writing, "the movie is not profound, but it's not stupid. It's about lovable people having important conversations and is not pro-choice or pro-life but simply in favor of his erásteguifeelings -- and hers lanchard if she felt free to feel them. The movie is a little more lightweight than the usual People's Choice Awards winner at Toronto, but why not? It was the best-liked film at the 2006 festival, and I can understand that." ''Bella'' resonated with

adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

and

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

organizations, who gave the movie high marks for its pro-adoption themes.

Awards and honors

''Bella'' took the "People's Choice Award" at the 2006

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

.'' Bella won the

Heartland Film Festival The Heartland International Film Festival is a film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana. The festival was first held in 1992, its goal is to "inspire filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion pictu ...

's Grand Prize Award Winner for Best Dramatic Feature and the Crystal Heart Awards for Monteverde as writer/director/producer. ''Bellas filmmakers received the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

's "Legacy Award" for the film's positive contribution to Latino art and culture. "This movie depicts the culture but also transcends it," said Pilar O'Leary, executive director of the Smithsonian Institution's Latino Center. "It has universal appeal."William Triplett (May 7, 2007).
Buoyant 'Bella' bow
''Variety''. Retrieved on 2007-10-11. ''Bella'' received the Tony Bennett Media Excellence Award. Bennett said ''Bella'' is "a perfect film, an artistic masterpiece that will live in people's hearts forever." ''Bella'' was listed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting on their list of the top ten films of 2007, noting that ''Bella'' presents an "affirmative pro-life message", along with "themes of self-forgiveness, reconciliation and redemption that should resonate deeply". The director of ''Bella'', Alejandro Monteverde, was given the " Outstanding American by Choice" Award at a

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

reception for ''Bellas positive contribution to Latino art and culture in the United States. Monteverde was also invited to join the

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

Laura Bush Laura Lane Welch Bush (''née'' Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American teacher, librarian, memoirist and author who was First Lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009. Bush previously served as First Lady of Texas from 1995 to 2000. ...

in her private box to watch the

State of the Union address The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditio ...

. The Mexican Embassy honored the film and gave ''Bella'' a screening at their annual Cinco De Mayo celebration. ''Bella'' broke the record for a Latino-themed film in total box office earnings and box office average per screen for films released in 2007. It was the top-rated movie on ''

'' Readers' Poll,

Yahoo Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present), Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds ma ...

and

Fandango Fandango is a lively partner dance originating from Portugal and Spain, usually in triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has ...

. ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' said ''Bella'' was "the fall's biggest surprise" and stated that "after only four weeks in release ''Bella'' has total sales of $5.2 million." ''Bella'' ended its U.S. theatrical release with more than $10 million in domestic box office, finishing the year in the top 10-grossing independent films of 2007.

Home media and adaptation

released a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

version of ''Bella'' on May 6, 2008. The same date, Thomas Nelson published the

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

of the film, written by Lisa Samson. ()

References

''This article incorporates text fro
the official site
licensed under

GNU Free Documentation license The GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or simply GFDL) is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the r ...

.''

External links

* * * *
''Bella'' at Yahoo Movies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bella (Film) 2006 drama films 2006 films 2000s pregnancy films American drama films Films about abortion Films about adoption Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City American pregnancy films Roadside Attractions films 2006 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award winners