rossana martinez

I still remember what a good impression the movie Before Night Falls made on me a couple of years ago. The movie, realized by the painter and now director Julian Schnabel, proves that creativity can be and should be used in diverse ways. The movie – with the brilliant Spanish actor Javier Bardem – is about the life of Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas. His journey from Cuba to New York City in search of artistic, political, and sexual freedom is moving and inspiring.

In Schnabel’s latest movie, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, he comes back stronger, more poetic, and more meaningful. The movie is about the life of French journalist and editor of Elle magazine, Jean-Dominique Bauby. At age 43, Bauby suffered a massive stroke that left him paralized. His only way to communicate was by blinking his left eye. As we see Bauby’s world through his one eye, the colors are beautiful, dream-like, and the story seen through him is almost impossible to believe. Although Bauby couldn’t move, I loved (and I’m still thinking about) the part when he realized “he still had his imagination and memories“. Amazingly, with assistance, he was still able to write the book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death.

The story reaffirms that no matter what our lives turn out to be – who we are, what we do or what we have – there are plenty of butterflies right in front of us. It is up to us to allow them to lift us up and light the way!