Review: The Impossible

The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand from the point of view of a vacationing British family headed by Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor.

 

Gruelling, extremely effective 2012 rendering of the real-life 2004 Boxing Day tsunami from director Juan Antonio Bayona (“The Orphanage”, “A Monster Calls”) and writer Sergio G. Sanchez (“The Orphanage”). It’s sometimes uncomfortable, unpleasant, and overall frighteningly convincing. This may not be a cinematic journey some of you wish to take, and I appreciate that. However, I wouldn’t go so far as to accuse the film of exploiting or wallowing in real-life misery. With one minor annoyance aside (I’ll get to that later), I found this film a compelling experience and very well-made. Bayona sets a scene of eerie, ominous, yet beautiful calm before the tsunami hits and the scenery just gets obliterated. You’ll be treated to some of the most harrowingly convincing disaster scenes in cinematic history. The only moment in the entire film where I felt like I was watching a movie was the strangely out-of-place cameo by Geraldine Chaplin. Otherwise, this one is damn close to docudrama.

 

It gets off and running pretty quickly and it takes mere minutes for you to become invested in this family, the performances from all of them seem real, the relationships authentic. In particular Naomi Watts gives quite possibly her best performance to date (and richly deserved her Oscar nomination), and Ewan McGregor is no slouch either. Watts particularly deserves credit though for going all-out here playing an extraordinary woman driven to save her children no matter what. Meanwhile, McGregor has an emotional breakdown scene that is truly and uncomfortably gut-wrenching, the actor letting it all out. A pre-“Spider Man” Tom Holland is absolutely terrific as the oldest, most resilient of the children, and isn’t remotely cutesy or cloying. He shows resilience and maturity beyond his years at times but not without also showing that this is still a child in a tough and sometimes rather awkward situation. We see this particularly in one scene where the kid happens to notice that his mum’s tit has popped out. I mean, she’s busy making sure they don’t frigging die, who cares about a wardrobe malfunction right? Kids see the world a bit differently, I guess. The one big flaw with the film is that the real-life characters have been unfortunately white-washed. The real-life family was Spanish, Watts and McGregor are English-Australian and Scottish respectively, and it’s very regrettable I must say that the change has been made. The real-life woman whom Watts plays apparently personally chose Watts for the role. It still bothers me.

 

If tears don’t well up in your eyes at least once during this gruelling experience, check your pulse. Well-acted, with devastatingly realistic depictions of a natural disaster. A very well-made picture.

 

Rating: B

 

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