The Impossible

There are disaster films and then there is "The Impossible". This isn't just any disaster film--that would be to insult the movie. A film of this genre usually has a tragedy, a hero (macho of course), a small comedy relief, and a rescue at the end. Sound familiar? There's some of that in this, but surprisingly, it had an interestingly amount of humanity, poignancy, and the ability to be just plain touching in places.

It's December 24, 2004. A regular family-- Maria Bennett (Naomi Watts), Henry Bennett (Ewan McGregor), and their three sons, Lucas (Tom Holland), Thomas (Samuel Joslin), and Simon (Oaklee Pendergast)-- travel to Thailand to spend Christmas together. They inadvertently receive an upgrade to a beach resort villa on the coastline. After settling in and exchanging gifts, they turn in for the night so they can enjoy the next day. December 26th, they decide to go to the pool, like so many other tourists. A perfect paradise vacation until a distant noise becomes a roar. Because there is no forewarning, and it creeps up so suddenly, there is no escape from a tsunami that has just hit! Maria and her eldest son, Lucas are swept away in one direction, Henry and the two youngest sons the other direction. Who will survive, and what will become of them?

Others to round out the cast are Marta Etura as Simone, Sonke Mohring as Karl, Geraldine Chaplin as Old Woman, Ploy Jindachote as Caregiver, Jomjaoi Sae-Limh as Red Cross Nurse, Johan Sundberg as Daniel, Jan Roland Sundberg as Daniel's Father, La-Orng Thongruang as Old Thai Man, Tor Klathaley as Young Thai Man, Douglas Johansson as Mr. Benstrom.

With minimal theatrical experience under his belt, this was extremely well directed by J.A. Bayona ("The Orphanage" '07, and a plethora of videos). How he was able to get the raw emotion and pain out of Watts and even Holland who played Lucas was next to perfection. Watts is a very talented actor in her own rights, but her performance was also a compliment to Bayona's ability. It was effectively well written by Sergio G. Sanchez ("The Orphanage" '07, Los manos del pianista" (TV movie) '08, "The End" '12), which was based on Maria Belon's harrowing story. Besides the story, the visual effects and miniatures were equally seamless.

I now understand why Watts received an Academy Award nomination as best actress. She was phenomenal as one could just feel her pain. You just wanted to wince for her. And through all her pain and not even knowing if she lost her husband and two younger sons, she was still concerned about others. But isn't it the way we humans are-- that when there is a tragedy, it seems to bring out our best? If there's any silver lining in this, that would be it.

Out of 4 Stars: 4                              Rated: PG-13                               114mins.