The Impossible
I think for a lot of people watching this exceptional, and emotional, film, the situation the family finds themselves in during this film’s two hours would SEEM impossible. I know that for myself, I doubt whether I would be able to survive the emotional impact of living through a deadly tsunami, unsure of whether my family lived or died, let alone physically surviving. That this film’s story is true, and based on one such experience when a tsunami hit in Southern Asia in 2004, borders on the miraculous.
During Christmas, a family living in Japan (the husband, played by Ewan McGregor, is there for business) vacations in Thailand, and for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, they are able to enjoy the time away. On December 26, however, they are playing at the resort’s pool when the tsunami hits, and the family– like so many others –finds itself scattered across the countryside. The mother (Maria, played by the stunning Naomi Watts) and their oldest child (Lucas, played with remarkable poise and feeling by Tom Holland) find themselves swept away, almost to the opposite side of the country it seem, and Maria (herself a doctor) is badly injured. Meanwhile, it’s almost 45 minutes-1 hour into the film when we discover that Henry (McGregor’s character) and their other sons (Oaklee Pendergast and Samuel Joslin) have survived as well, and they remain back at the resort. Henry spends several days looking for Maria and Lucas, although it does seem hopeless.
The director of “The Impossible,” Juan Antonio Bayona, makes us feel the enormous weight Maria, Lucas, and Henry feel towards their loved ones as they attempt to survive. But while Henry and the family’s youngest sons seem to have found a better scenario, having managed to stay close to the resort, things seem dire for Maria and Lucas, who suffer many injuries that might finish the job the tsunami didn’t. Through the aid of locals, they find their way to a hospital, and while Maria lays dying, Lucas finds himself helping others as they search for loved ones. The screenplay by Sergio G. Sanchez is deeply emotional, and doesn’t play around with the reality of the situation, even when the ending is known, and could result in an uncomfortable level of sentiment. The narrative storytelling is matched by the technical filmmaking Bayona employs, using sound design, cinematography, visual effects, and music to heighten the experience, and make it feel palpable. The film will take a piece out of you, and it’s one of the very best of 2012 because of it.
