CHOOSE life? Forget the big TV, travel insurance and ungrateful kids. Life is lying in a bed for 28 years, unable to move, whistling for your nephew to come and prop you up so you can poke at a page with a pen in your mouth.

At least, that's the true-life story of Ramon Sampedro, a Spanish quadreplegic who fought a battle for the right to die because "life is a choice, not an obligation".

From his bed in his brother's farmhouse Ramon builds a legal case through a euthanasia campaigner and a sympathetic lawyer, Julia. Shadowed by memories of the instant in his early twenties when a swimming accident turned ability into inability, and youth into something forever lost, Ramon's tart humour masks a despair and acceptance that, when it comes to life, he just doesn't get it any more.

But director Alejandro Amenbar wants to say otherwise, filling Ramon's life with two key relationships: the beautiful Julia (Rueda), and a local young mum, Rosa (Dueas), who wants to change his mind.

Then there's his doting and sad family, who skirt around the legal challenge and do their best to love Ramon. Every scene aches with the hurt his suicide would leave.

It's a very moving and profound work, but Amenabar steers the question of life and death through comic moments, harsh reality and soaring fantasy without overcooking the sentiment. Bardem is rock solid as Ramon, a contradictory charmer, who though he says he has given up, does not always fail to notice life's beauty.

Mono rating: eight out of ten.

Paul Platt