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"Bella" the non-Hollywood movie is coming

http://www.townhall.com ^ | 12-1-2006 | Robert D. Novak

Posted on 12/01/2006 12:21:40 PM PST by spintreebob

An invited audience including Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez
gathered at the National Geographic Society's auditorium in Washington
Monday night for a screening of "Bella," an independently produced
feature film. No mere movie, it offers hope for the beleaguered
anti-abortion movement to reverse the political tide running against
it.

This was the eighth such screening in Washington. Monday night's
audience reflected the reaction in more than 100 showings nationwide:
an emotional experience for a stunning exhibition of cinema art that
unexpectedly won a Toronto Film Festival award. It is no propaganda
film but a dramatic depiction of choices facing an unmarried pregnant
woman.

"Bella," unknown to the general public, has generated excitement and
anticipation in conservative Catholic and other anti-abortion circles.
The problem is getting the film in movie theaters around the country
for its public premiere early next April. That is never easy for an
independent film with no box office names, but the problems are
magnified when its message runs counter to the social mores of
Hollywood.

"Bella" arrives in an environment that has grown bleak for enemies of
abortion. The Democratic Party has become so much the party of abortion
rights that of 41 freshmen Democrats elected to the House, only three
are anti- abortion. Pro-life forces in the House suffered a net loss of
13 members. That means statutory restrictions on abortion, which must
be renewed by each Congress, are now in serious jeopardy.

The loss of numerical strength on Capitol Hill reflects a public
relations and political victory by the abtion lobby. Republican
politicians tend to give only lip service to the issue, typified by
President George W. Bush's silence on abortion. Republican candidates
have accepte support from pro-life forces -- and then kept quiet about
abortion, leaving the field open to pro-choice advocates.

Thus, the anti-abortion movement sees "Bella" as providential. It is
entertainment, not propaganda. Although Monday's screening was
sponsored by the National Council for Adoption, the word "adoption" is
uttered only once in the film. There are no tirades against abortion.
Indeed, it acknowledges a woman's pain of carrying a baby to term only
to give it up for adoption. In the end, however, the film is a
heart-wrenching affirmation of life over death.

"Bella" was conceived by three young Mexican men -- producer, director
and lead actor -- who are conservative Catholics and want to make
movies removed from Hollywood's movie culture of sex and violence.
Bankrolled by a wealthy Catholic family from Philadelphia, they shot
the film in 24 days in New York City.

The star is Eduardo Verastegui, a Mexican heartthrob as a lead
performer in TV soap operas who now lives in Los Angeles. A devout
Catholic, he told me he was tired of movies showing Latinos as
disreputable and immoral. He has learned to speak English in three
years well enough to play the lead role mostly in English (with
subtitles over the Spanish).

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1747104/posts

"Bella" the non-Hollywood movie is coming

http://www.townhall.com ^ | 12-1-2006 | Robert D. Novak