Based on the Spanish movie "Abre Los Ojos"

Rating: 10/10 (13 April 2006)

David is a symbol of the trendy, superficial meaningless life that wealthy American society tends to produce. David has a nice car, fantastic condo, nice clothes, a pretty girl that he sleeps with whenever he wants (Juliana), no attachments, owns a successful magazine publishing company that he inherited from his father (so he even had no part in building it), and shows up to work basically when he feels like it. The Board of Directors and others run the company, David just reaps all the benefits! The only "check" in David's life is the Board of Director's (the "Seven Dwarfs") and he resents them for this!
Karma - it is Karma that deals David a blow, by disfiguring him in the car crash. Disfigured, David can no longer rely on his good looks to cruise through life. Karma not only punishes David in this manner, but also gets even with David for treating Juliana in the manner that he did; and shows David how cruel superficiality can be when Sofia shows no interest in David after his face is disfigured. But even after David's accident, he can not see that his behavior had consequences. And it is his behavior that led him into the predicament that he finds himself in. He blames all of it on what he believes to be a conspiracy by the Seven Dwarfs to take control of his company. Ironically, the only real good thing we see David do before his accident, is to save the job of his family attorney (Tom), by keeping him on staff, giving him a 50% raise and "the corner office." This good deed is later repaid, because it is Tom who later in the story keeps the company in David's control, wresting it away from the Board of Directors.
Sofia is shown to be as superficial as David is. Sofia is no longer attracted to David after his accident. Though she apparently saw the opportunity for love to bloom after the initial meeting that nite of the party, since his face is disfigured, she never sees David again after leaving him at the nightclub. She does attend the 3-day "celebration of his life" thrown by his friend, Brian, but one would believe that this was not so much to grieve the loss of David as it was to grieve the loss of the love that could have bloomed had he not became disfigured in the accident. This type of superficiality is a concurrent theme throughout the movie, and in each instance, this superficiality ends up punishing the individual that acts in this manner. Though the movie focuses mostly on David's superficiality and the consequences of his behavior, we do see Sofia being punished as well. She rejects David after the accident because he is no longer aesthetically pleasing to the eye, yet we see that she never gets over loosing him. Because Sofia can not see David beyond the pretty face that she was attracted to, she is punished with grief and never sees David again after the nite at the nightclub. When she attends David's wake at his apartment, thrown by his friend, we see a sad and despondent Sofia.
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