The Belly of the Sea

(El ventre del mar)
Agustí Villaronga | Drama

2021 | 78 minutes | Spain

Based on real events, The Belly of the Sea tells of 147 men adrift on a raft after a 1816 shipwreck, facing survival, cruelty, and despair.

Literature Sociology Race + Ethnicity Catalan Studies Culture + Identity
Synopsis

The Belly of the Sea is a gripping historical drama based on real events and inspired by the novel Oceano Mare by Italian writer Alessandro Baricco. In June 1816, the French navy frigate Alliance ran aground on a sandbar off the coast of Senegal. Unable to free the vessel, the crew was forced to abandon ship. With insufficient lifeboats to accommodate everyone, a makeshift raft was constructed to carry soldiers, sailors, passengers, and officers.

The evacuation plan relied on the lifeboats towing the raft safely to shore, but panic, misjudgment, and cowardice intervened. What followed was a harrowing ordeal of survival, in which the men faced unimaginable cruelty, despair, and fleeting moments of compassion.

The Belly of the Sea brings this historical tragedy to life on screen, exploring themes of human endurance, moral conflict, and the thin line between civilization and chaos, making it essential viewing for audiences interested in history, literature, and the human condition.

Reviews

"Villaronga has managed to create a work of art." - Beatriz Martínez, Fotogramas

“A format-blender, mixing black and white and color cinematography,  was shot in a near 100-year-old wine cellar where Savigny and Thomas, the sailor, contrast their memories of the shipwreck in a kind of boxing ring surrounded by sea. The film contains scenes from the subsequent court trial of the ship’s incompetent captain. There’s footage – photos and video – from Francesco Zizola’s ‘In the Same Boat’, shot from the a modern ship, the Bourbon Argos, documenting the rescue of African migrants adrift on the open sea in the Mediterranean in 2015.” — Emilio Mayorga, John Hopewell, Variety

"A relevant study on cowardice and ineptitude, abandonment and forgetfulness, which unfortunately extends through the ages." - Javier Ocaña, El Pais

Citation

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Cataloging

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Pragda subjects

Catalan Studies
Culture + Identity
Literature
Race + Ethnicity
Sociology

Keywords
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Festivals

Málaga Film Festival - Best Film, Best Director, Best Writting, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Music, Best Cinematography; San Sebastian International Film Festival; Cambridge Film Festival; Moscow Film Festival - Critics Award; Pune International Film Festival; Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival; Transylvania International Film Festival; Mallorca Film Fest; Rotterdam Film Festival

DIRECTOR: Agustí Villaronga

NATIONALITY: Spain

YEAR: 2021

GENRE: Drama

LANGUAGE: Catalan

COLOR / B&W: Color

GRADE LEVEL: High School, College, Adult

SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE

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