My readers from Spain have repeatedly told me that if I think Penelope Cruz is good in Hollywood films like Nine, she is even better in films made in Spain, and that is how I started watching a few Pedro Almodovar films like Broken Embraces, Volver, and All About My Mother. Open Your Eyes (Abre los ojos in Spanish) is an interesting movie because as I started to watch it, I thought it was a one of those romantic comedies because it starts off as a love triangle. How wrong I was! It is actually a movie that I would characterize as a sci-fi movie or even one of those movies that address the existential crises that we all face from time to time.
César (played by Eduardo Noriega) is a rich man who never dates a girl more than once. However, Nuria (Najwa Nimri) starts stalking him even though she knows that César has his eyes on Sofia (played by Penelope Cruz and the object of desire of his best friend). Out of jealousy, Nuria causes an accident in which César’s face is disfigured. Since a face transplant does not do the trick for him, he chooses to participate in a program that will allow him to be put in a cryogenic chamber so that he can then wake up later and take advantage of developments in technology. And that is exactly what happens when he can take advantage of plastic surgery procedures that allow his face to be completely restored. He even enters a phase in which he can live the life that he wants to live because nothing is real. It is essentially a virtual reality world in which you choose what you want around you.
It is a very interesting movie and since it is all fiction at this point what is important to get from this movie is that whatever we feel is in our head and we can control what our reaction is to our environment and events. For example, you can lose your job, get depressed, and kill yourself, or take the layoff as an opportunity to reinvent yourself and start a new life. Strongly recommended movie to anyone who is a fan of Penelope Cruz, Spanish films, and fantasies that teach us about our current lives.
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