The 2004 tsunami was an event which swamped the media and has actually featured in some films since (Hereafter) but The Impossible feels like the first proper effort to bring the true story to the silver screen.
The film follows parents Maria (Naomi Watts) and Henry (Ewan McGregor) who bring their three sons, eldest Lucas (Tom Holland) and younger siblings Simon (Oaklee Pendergast) and Thomas (Samuel Joslin) to Thailand for a Christmas break. However, as we all know, tragedy struck in the form of a tsunami on Boxing Day, sending the whole area into disarray and mayhem. Maria and Lucas are separated from the rest of their family and must find their way to help across the terror that now lies before them. Along the way they pick up a young boy to help him, but Lucas' worries are focused on Maria, who has a horrible gaping wound on the back of her leg, which is resulting in huge blood loss. With the help of the local indigenous people, Maria and Lucas make their way to a local hospital, where Lucas finds his calling in helping to reunite others (while looking for his Dad and brothers at the same time.) As Maria's condition worsens, to the point where she is on the edge of death, it's a case of a race against the clock for Lucas to find the rest of his family before he is left on his own in the devastated country.
OK, so The Impossible is an unashamedly weepy film, which is purely designed to tug at our heart strings and really make us empathise with the family and the situation that they are in. It wastes no time in getting the tsunami wave on screen and place our protagonists in mortal danger, so the majority of the film has time to play with putting them in perilous situations which we are willing them to survive. One of the first times that I really felt the film was doing this was after the tsunami had struck, Maria and Lucas were clinging onto a fallen tree for dear life, and they both admitted to each other that they were scared. Surely not a thing that a Mother would do for her son? But the emotions were so raw at this moment, that it just felt so real. At this point, I knew the casting and the acting from our main players was going to be spot on.
I cannot really praise the young Tom Holland enough, who really does carry his and Watt's story, as Maria quickly falls into a catatonic state, where her injuries are so overwhelming that she is barely able to speak. He goes from a heartless, moody brother (he won't even talk to his little bro on the plane... ahhh diddums!) to the point where he is actively seeking out people's missing relatives in the dank Thai hospital simply so they can be reunited. It's a brilliant character arc that Holland manages to pull off brilliantly. While Pendergast and Joslin were also fairly good in their roles as the younger brothers, they were simply there to look cute most of the time. The only weak link in the family that I could really pinpoint is the casting of McGregor. While he wasn't weak in portraying his character, his desperation to find his wife and child is heart wrenching, some of his decisions that he makes are simply dumb and made me dislike his character at some points. I mean, who would send off his two young sons on a van with strangers, simply so he can search for his wife and elder son alone?
I guess what I'm trying to say is I wish the film would have spent much more time with Maria and Lucas and kept the rest of the family as a sub-plot, as I felt much more invested with their story.
However, the direction from Spanish Director, Juan Antonio Bayona is pretty much spot on as he hits most story beats and wrings all the emotional scenes for all that he can. However, strangely enough, his decision to include the visceral details of Maria's leg wound and the disgusting environment of the overwhelmed Thai hospital saps out the emotional edge of the film but adds to the realism. I could tell this was happening as three young teenage girls who sat directly behind me, obviously there for a good cry, were debating whether to leave or not because the film was so 'disgusting' (much to the annoyance of everyone else around them.) While I don't think it harmed the film in any way at all, some people may feel a little bit cheated, because the trailer promises a good weepy epic and decides to bypass all the medical struggles that are faced in the film.
However, that is the only blip that I could find in the film, because The Impossible is a brilliantly raw take on the 2004 disaster that struck the coast of Thailand. While it may not be as sad and depressing as such weepy favourites as The Notebook, The Impossible is more about the family ties and bonds and how far people will go in the face of adversity to find the ones that they love. The tsunami itself isn't lingered upon in numerous sweeping aerial shots or with a massive build-up, it just hits the audience as suddenly as the real thing hit the coast of Thailand.
So, go into The Impossible expecting a raw and emotional take on the 2004 tsunami then you won't be disappointed. Expect to go in with a handful of tissues and a good old cry, and you might be disappointed. Sure, it's a sad film and certain scenes really did get a lump in my throat, but it isn't a weepy classic.
****/*****
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