"Mar adentro"
Hola, todos. I've heard of this movie Mar Adentro, the English title of which is, The Sea Inside. That all makes sense; that's what I would have translated it as, too. But then I just read in my textbook, the second edition of Gramatica para la composición por M. Stanley Whitley and Luis Gonzáles, that mar adentro means 'out to sea'. And the translator here gives 'offshore.' Those last two meanings pretty much match up, but they really aren't synonymous with 'the sea inside.'
So, my question is: can it mean both 'out to sea' and 'the sea inside,' or is the translator of the title taking creative liberties here and just giving it a different name in the two languages?
4 Answers
To me "mar adentro" means "out to/at sea", which is not that different from offshore. It can mean both towards the deep sea, or just being far from any coast.
By the way, the movie is really touching and worth watching, but it is somewhat depressive. It takes place in a small village where people have a very strong regional accent, partly due to the fact that they also speak their own language (or dialect), which is close to Portuguese, and actors speak rather low (according to their mood), so it must be quite hard for a foreigner to understand.
I've never read the book nor seen the movie, but according to the synopsis of the plot I would think that The Sea Inside or The Sea Within is the proper translation for this context. The other translations were not made in context so they may also be correct for other contexts. You cannot remove the words from their context and then make meaningful comparisons.
This is the story of Ramon Sampedro, a sailor that in his twenties was paralyzed from the neck down in an accident at the sea and his fight with the Spanish government for the right to end his life.
The Sea Inside (Within) refers to the protagonist's dream of being a sailor. It is the dream that he carries inside him. Translating it with other meanings outside of this context will lead you astray.
Offshore or out to sea may be perfectly valid translations for other contexts.
When I lived in Spain it was a running joke at the office to compare the Spanish title of the latest movie with the English title which could usually be discovered by searching with a magnifying glass. The only one that I could remember that was an exact translation (at that time) was El Padrino - The Godfather. Even Chinatown was given some other title.
Well I have seen the movie, three times in fact. With each successive viewing I saw things that I missed before. As Lazarus says, the main theme is somewhat depressing but the film also contains many other aspects of life. There are amusing and dramatic scenes. There is also the influence that the main protagonist, Ramón Sampedro, has on three women in the film, all in their own way, in love with Ramón. He is on leave from the merchant navy. He and his friends visit the beach where he lived with his parents before going to sea and he breaks his neck on the sea bed whilst diving off cliffs. Because of the accident he becomes a quadriplegic, the main reason he wants to end his life. He fought the Spanish government for over 30 years. The main irony was that many failed suicides were never prosecuted by the courts but anybody who assisted in the attempt was. Unfortunately because of Ramón´s condition he needed assistance to attempt suicide and didn´t want anyone prosecuted afterwards, hence the battle with the courts.
One amusing scene for me was when he had to appear in person at the court with his lawyer to plead his case. He designed modifications to his wheelchair, which he hated and never used, to transport him to the court. His father and nephew were carrying out the modifications when Ramón said "make sure the alterations are strong enough, I don´t want to fall out". They both looked at him implying what difference would it make, he wouldn´t feel anything. Ramón continued, "after all, I don´t want to break my neck". A short pause and all three burst into laughter.
By the way, the dialect Lazarus refers to is "gallego".
