A recent Wall Street Journal article summed up the pitiful state of entertainment in Hollywood. Seeing the paper and a big picture of Bee Movie, our 7-year-old picked it up and chirped, "Oh, here's a story about quality movies." If only. Ironically, this conversation happened after dinner ˜ just two hours before Steve and I would be watching Bella.

Winner of the Toronto Film Festival's Peoples Choice award, Bella is subtle, skillful, organic. Nothing like the recent subset of overtly Christian movies, it has no easy or predictable solutions. The plot leads you, almost reluctantly, to where it needs to go in order to tell a good story. And yet it is a deeply Christian film about redemption, hope, forgiveness and love. It is, as the trailer promises, "a love story that goes beyond romance."

What's the energy behind this low-budget surprise hit that has people buzzing about Oscar potential? Enter Eduardo Verástegui — Bella's star and co-producer, a man with a purpose.

In interviews ranging from Fox New's Neil Cavuto, to American Idol's Ryan Seacrest, to Focus on the Family's Plugged In, Verástegui speaks passionately and effectively about his desire to bring an end to Latino stereotypes. Whenever you see a Mexican actor, Verástegui says, "He's the bad guy, the liar." Or if he's not the criminal, he's a womanizer. And Latino women, "They're the objects.... But I look around at my family, at my mother, my grandmother, my three younger sisters. They aren't objects, they're the heart of the family. They're full of wisdom." He wants to give Latinos a chance to be "everyday heroes, the real hero. Not like Superman, but a man who's willing to sacrifice everything to help his wife, his children, his friends. Real men."

"Bella," Verástegui said, "shows the real face of Latinos. It elevates the dignity of Latinos." Bella doesn't just elevate Latinos, it elevates the dignity of humanity.

Bella is a sensual movie. The food. The music. The dancing. The colors. The culture. You can taste, hear, feel the intensity of summertime in working class, ethnic New York; the intensity of Jose's (Verástegui) haunted memories. No matter how much time passes, it's clear there's no hope of a reprieve from the consequences of one careless moment; the moment that changed everything. He feels the sin of his past too deeply to ever stop grieving the consequences.

It's not that he doesn't believe in forgiveness, but that he's marked. Like Jacob, he walks with a limp.

(Spoiler Warning)

At the heart of the movie is a young woman who's never known family: the joys, chaos, comfort, support. Only after she sees it in Jose's family does she even realize it's possible. "You have a good family," she says, her voice deep with emotion. And so it is a serious movie.

Unlike the recent, perverse Knocked Up, that trivializes pre-marital sex and unintended pregnancy, even as it allows the baby to survive, this film approaches the whole issue with reverence. It feels heavy — the filmmakers understand the delicacy of the decision; the weight that presses on a woman in crisis. Unlike so many movies that try to make a statement for or against abortion, this one cares deeply for both Nina — the desperate, frightened, angry mother — as well as her unborn child.

The most striking example happens shortly after Jose learns that Nina's pregnant. Though he's head chef at his older brother Manny's upscale restaurant, Jose ditches for the day, going instead with Nina, a waitress who's just been fired by that same brother for being late one too many times. (Manny doesn't realize she's pregnant, though in view of his "all business" approach, it likely wouldn't have made a difference.)

Jose takes Nina to eat and orders paella. He asks her, "Do you like paella?" When she nods, he says, "It's good for women who are going to have a child." She quickly corrects him, "Who said anything about having a child?"

From this point, Jose is intensely, though tenderly, committed to helping Nina. Despite Eduardo Verástegui's incomparable appearance, it's not his show-stopping good looks that I suspect will capture the hearts of single women everywhere.¹ It's his character's character.

Jose is a stark contrast to the never-seen former boyfriend who got Nina pregnant. Something's driving Jose. He's as tender and compassionate a friend as any woman could ever hope to find. He's available in her desperation. Driven by his haunted past, he puts Nina above even his job and family in her own moment of crisis and decision. It's as if by rescuing the baby within her, he can save her from the hell he's endured and in the process, redeem his past. Or at least have a new start.

In an interview with Focus on the Family's Plugged In, Eduardo Verástegui put it this way:

"My Jose never tells her what to do except for one question that he asks.... The rest he just leaves to her and loves her. He opens his own wound to her so she can see how wounded he is. He opens the doors of his house to her so she can see what family is.... He shows love, because love and truth conquer everything.... He elevates her first and makes her feel important — and by doing that he makes it easy for her to make the right choice."

Bella shows the brokenness of this world in all its pain, neglect, trauma and tragedy. But mercifully, it shows redemption; the healing love can bring. It's the message of the gospel wrapped beautifully, subtly in a story that will change you. Life, in this film as in reality, can be hard, and disappointing, and tragic. But life is beautiful.

The film isn't just heavy. There are brief moments of levity, as in when Jose's family members are all together. Still, I found myself reluctant to laugh, unwilling to interrupt the momentum of Jose and Nina's unfolding story. I looked around to see if it was OK to laugh. (It was.) It's in this family setting that Nina's eyes are first opened to see the possibility of something she never experienced: joy.

Though my hopes for a perfect ending were disappointed, I was impressed that life and relationships and compassion were elevated above the typical romantic ride-into-the-sunset. Bella transcended the smallness of emotions, lacking all the hijinx of flirtation and objectification. I never missed it.

The Wall Street Journal laments the dearth of good movies, saying, "Hollywood has rarely been more in need of a holiday pick-me-up." They need look no further than Bella: a rare gem that, in its power to change you, shows movie making at its best. As Hollywood producers "scramble for both commercial and Oscar gold," Verástegui is, in his own words, looking for a different kind of payoff:

"I was caught up in the stardom and money of this business, like so many actors," Verástegui said, "But I was drawn to do this. To just do something worthwhile. What I'd love to see happen with this film is to someday have this 12-year-old knock on my door and say that her mother was going to have an abortion. But she saw this film. That would be my Oscar."

I hope he gets them both.

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1. Single women everywhere will also be captivated by the real life Verástegui, the 33-year-old single who, in an interview with Ryan Seacrest, said, "I can't wait to meet my wife.... I can't wait to meet the mother of my children."