| Bella | 
| Director: Alejandro Monteverde
Actors: Eduardo Verastegui, Tammy Blanchard, Manny Perez, Ali Landry, Angelica Aragon
Studio: Lions Gate
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $8.33
You Save: $11.65 (58%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $8.33
Avg. Customer Rating:   (129 reviews)
Sales Rank: 365
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 91 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.7
MPN: 22665
UPC: 031398226659
EAN: 0031398226659
ASIN: B0014BQR6U
Release Date: May 6, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: October 26, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product description
An international soccer star (Eduardo Verastegui) is on his way to sign a multimillion dollar contract when something happens that brings his career to an abrupt end. A beautiful waitress (Tammy Blanchard), struggling to make it in New York City, discovers something about herself that she's unprepared for. In one irreversible moment, their lives are turned upside down...until a simple gesture of kindness brings them both together, turning an ordinary day into an unforgettable experience.
Amazon.com
Life is a complicated journey in which right and wrong are sometimes indistinct and where the things that really matter are often unclear. Bella is a powerful, leisurely-paced film in which Jose (Eduardo Verastegui) and Nina (Tammy Blanchard) struggle to do what's right while seeking meaning in their lives. A quiet, brooding man with a dark past, Jose works as a chef in his brother Manny's (Manny Perez) restaurant where he mostly keeps to himself until young waitress Nina is fired. Touched by Manny's unfair treatment of Nina, Jose impulsively leaves work to follow Nina and spends a day with her where he discovers that she is pregnant and alone. The two become incredibly close in the space of a day, sharing their pasts, feelings, and fears, and a lasting friendship is born. As Nina struggles with her pregnancy options and Jose comes to terms with a horrific incident from his past, the pair's newfound friendship aids in growth and healing. In the end, Jose and Nina's lives become permanently intertwined in a most beautiful and unexpected way. Bella is a moving, introspective film that will inspire serious personal reflection. --Tami Horiuchi
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| Customer Reviews: Read 124 more reviews...
 The Passion to Play August 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Director Alejandro Moteverde keeps the pace slow and meditative. Sometimes one incident can change your whole life. It can happen in a split second before you've even realized the implications. Jose played by Eduardo Verastegui who was in "Chasing Papi" in 2003 does an excellent job. We see him first looking almost homeless, ragged enough to make a parent get his children away from him. As the story unfolds and we learn what happened on the day he went to sign his big soccer contract, we see the world shift. The father describes how one needs passion to play soccer. Clearly, the experience Jose went through has drained him.
Then we join him on the job as a chef working for his brother Manny. Manny is played by Manny Perez, who has a rough exterior, all business, and not very kind to his employees. Nina is a waitress and has been absent, experiencing the effect of pregnancy. Manny fires her, not knowing the story. Jose befriends her. "Bella" is basically a film about their day together. Jose takes Nina to his home. Nina is played by Tammy Blanchard who played Judy Garland in a movie of the week and appeared in The Good Shepherd (Widescreen Edition). She does an excellent job as the waitress, feeling a thousand pressures as she tries to earn her way in New York City. Angelica Aragon who played with Anthony Quinn & Keeanu Reeves in A Walk in the Clouds plays Jose's mother. Ramon Rodriguez plays his little brother Eduardo. Ultimately, this is a film that supports adoptive parents and speaks of compassion and understanding as qualities as vital to life as air, food & shelter. This is a film that puts a smile on your face, not a perfect ending, but a very satisfying one. I can see why this won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Enjoy!
 Suave, doce e autentico August 26, 2008
Every once in a while a film comes along that sucks you into it so completely that you forget that you are watching a movie. None of the lines are forced, none of the "action" defies real life, none of the emotion contrived. This was almost like watching a docudrama, but the pace, the mood and feel were so gentile, loving, sweet yet authentic that it was like being a fly on the wall to two people confronting their own individual grief over mistakes made and consequences to be faced for an undetermined amount of time. Can life ever be right again? This movie argues as emphatically as a butterfly can that life can be renewed if real love and virtue are the next steps, whether the circumstances or consequences of our self made tragedies ever change. As Spike Lee once noted, "Do the right thing? That's it?!?" "That's it!" I kept waiting for this film to veer off course. For me, it never did. I can't think of a better film in my lifetime. And not that I ever want to see it, but I imagine an ending of happily ever after for the haunted man and the woman who just wanted a real father for her child and a husband that she could love and trust for the rest of her life with that child. This movie was bellisimo.
 Heartfelt Story August 24, 2008
Bella is a heartfelt story in which the lives of a waitress (Tammy Blanchard), and a cook (Eduardo Versategui) are meshed together. The cook has a dark past he isn't to grips with just yet. They are both struggling to make sense of the world, and as they are brought together, they find solace in one another.
I came upon this film when searching Netflix for something to watch. It was available on Instant Play, so it was watched. Eduardo Versategui, whom I've never heard of before, was wonderfully affected in this role. His cool calm character has a haunting past that you can see in his eyes at all times. White Tammy Blanchard was a bit too brash for my tastes, it isn't a love story, so it does help with the plotline. This is a touching and sweet story that had me crying, at least once.
Great Movie August 22, 2008
I was bowled over by the direction and acting in this movie. It's in my top 5. Some reviewers complain about the slow pace but I felt it was a matter of thouroughly developing the characters and this was the whole point of the movie. A great story beautifully filmed and acted.
Very moving August 20, 2008
The movie is about relationships. The relationship between Jose and Nina, Jose and his brother and the rest of the family. They stuck through thick and thin with Jose. He could have been a very wealthy soccer player and help the family economically. Instead, they stood by him, loved him unconditionally, which is what families are supposed to do. It is a reminder to those of us who are lucky to have supportive and loving families, to be thankful every day for it. Through all adversity the family still had a joy for life. It is about doing the right thing.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!
what I don't get is the end. Did Nina come back to take Bella away from Jose? It threw me off because she did say "I am sorry" which led me to believe that Jose was giving back Bella to Nina. I guess is for us to draw our own conclusions.
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