Abigail C.

Torres BSAT-3A

January 20, 2016

Theology 131: Christian Morality And Spirituality

The Sea Inside Reflection
Mar Adentro or The Sea inside is about the real life story of Ramon Sampedro. Due to
his diving accident at a very young age, he became quadriplegic, a paralysis that results in the
total loss of use of his limbs and torso making his head the only part that he could move and
control. He was bedridden for about 28 years and he was under the care of his brother and his
family. Because of his situation, he wanted to commit an assisted suicide to end his
meaningless life.
After watching the movie, I realized that there were a lot of major ethical issues showed
in the movie. First is euthanasia or commonly known as mercy killing. It is the issue of Ramon
wherein he wanted to commit an assisted suicide since for him his life is meaningless. Second
is adultery. Adultery is showed when Julia, the lawyer of Ramon and a married woman, fell in
love with Ramon and later in the movie the two was seen kissing. And lastly is single
parenthood. Rosa is a good example portraying single parenthood. She is a worker and a mom
of two kids with different fathers. She stated in the movie that she broke up with her husbands
and chose to raise the kids by her own.
For Ramon, his life is meaningless and useless. Since he cannot move his arms and
legs and he can't do the things he wanted, he realized that there is no point of living. For him,
living is being free, free to move, free to do things and free to love. But since he cannot do those
things, for him he is already dead. But for Ramon's family and the priest, who is also suffering
quadriplegic, life for them is very important to the point that even Ramon can't do the things he
wanted they still want him to live until he will die of old age. For them, life is not just about being
able to movie

For me, I think that the reason of Ramon to end his life is not morally justified. It is
because Ramon only thinks that life is all about being free physically and that being imprison to
a paralyze body removes the purpose and the essence of his life. He did not even try to go out
and explore, discover and experience new things or even socialize to other people so how can
he say that his life is meaningless? He should learn to be optimistic and accept his condition
since surviving in his diving accident is a already a gift.
On the other side, Ramon's family is very caring and loving to him. They truly love him to
the point that they didn't like his idea of committing an assisted suicide just to stop his suffering.
Also, they were able to supply the needs of Ramon such as food, clothes, shelter and love.
Whenever Ramon needs anything, they are always there to help him. They didn't see Ramon as
a burden but rather a blessing in disguise since he make their family become closer together.
In the movie, there were two women who have an impact in Ramon's life. They are Julia
and Rosa. Julia is Ramon's lawyer who will help him win his case and help him die. She was
also suffering from an illness and like Ramon she also thinks that her life is meaningless and so
she also wanted to do euthanasia. Later in the movie, the two fell in love with each other even
though Julia is a married woman. Rosa on the other hand, is a single mother with two kids who
likes Ramon. Unlike Julia, she wanted Ramon to live therefore she constantly tells him to
continue living.
The striking ironies presented at the end of film are when Julia, who will be helping
Ramon to die and win his case, refused to help him in the end. At the time Julia fell in love with
Ramon, she realize that she wanted to be with him to the point that she doesn't want to die and
doesn't even want to do euthanasia. The second irony is when Rosa, the woman who doesn't
want Ramon to die at the beginning, was the one who help him die at the end by preparing a
poisonous drink. When she fell in love with Ramon, he told her if you love someone he will do

everything for that person. Because of what Ramon have said, Rosa agreed to it and brought
him to her house near the sea.