The Impossible (FILM REVIEW)
The Impossible
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Tsunami Drama Revisits Family’s Harrowing Ordeal
On the day after Christmas in 2004,
a magnitude 9.3 earthquake, the third largest ever measured on the Richter
scale, triggered a mammoth tsunami in the Indian Ocean
which cost a quarter million people their lives. Thanks to the ubiquity of
surveillance and cell phone cameras, the world was able to witness much of the
tragedy, including tidal waves crashing ashore and creeping deep inland before
sweeping humans, cars and everything else in its path back out to sea.
Maria (Naomi Watts) and Henry Belon
(Ewan McGregor), a married couple from Spain,
had the misfortune to be vacationing in Thailand with their three sons (Tom
Holland, Samuel Joslin and Oaklee Pendergast) that fateful day. Because they had
rented a ground level cottage at a luxurious beachfront resort, they were engulfed
by water and separated from each other the moment disaster struck.
The family’s ensuing ordeal is the
subject of The Impossible, a harrowing tale of survival directed by Juan
Antonia Bayona (The Orphanage). The Belons’ nationality has admittedly been changed
from Spanish to British for the sake of the film, but one can only assume that
the rest of their terrifying experience has been accurately recreated here.
The film opens with a relatively
serene tableau covering their uneventful, Christmas Eve flight to Khao Lak as
well as their subsequent celebration of the holiday opening presents and
snorkeling. Of course, that deceptively idyllic setup is just the quiet before the
storm.
When the tsunami hits the following
morning, their hotel is engulfed, and from that point forward the picture is
presented primarily from Maria’s point of view. We first witness her clinging
to a palm tree, and then saving eldest son Lucas (Holland).
The kid eventually escorts his
profusely bleeding mother through the chaos to a makeshift hospital for some urgently-needed
medical attention. While she teeters between life and death, Lucas perambulates
the devastated region for any sign, living or dead, of his missing father and siblings.
Did they make it? Sorry, far be it
from this critic to spoil the resolution of any edge-of-your-seat thriller,
even if based on actual events.
Forget National Lampoon, this flick
chronicles the real vacation from Hell!
Very Good
(3 stars)
Rated PG-13 for brief nudity, disturbing images and intense disaster
sequences
In English and Thai with subtitles
Running time: 114 minutes
Distributor: Summit Entertainment
To see a trailer for The
Impossible, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU4mXJRHIcQ
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