The Impossible
Juan Antonio Bayona
The story: Maria (Naomi Watts) and Henry (Ewan McGregor) head to Thailand for Christmas with their three young boys: Lucas (Tom Holland), Thomas (Samuel Joslin) and Simon (Oaklee Pendergast). What is supposed to be an idyllic vacation turns into a nightmare as the impossible happens and a devastating tsunami tears away the coast on Dec 26, 2004. Based on a Spanish family’s real-life experience.

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the resulting tsunamis it triggered was one of the deadliest natural disasters ever. It was estimated that more than 230,000 people died and almost 1.7 million displaced.
What is not conveyed in the numbers is the speed and scale of that terrifying wave sweeping in as people stood rooted to the spot, unable to process what they were seeing.
Incredibly, director Juan Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage, 2007) has managed to do just that. As the water rushes in and coconut trees topple like dominoes, you think that he must have somehow spliced in documentary footage. Yet the scene was created from scratch with the help of a giant water tank as well as CGI.
The technical accomplishment is an impressive one but what gives the film its emotional power is the superb performances.
As Maria, Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive, 2001) taps into a primal maternal instinct. In the harrowing aftermath of the tsunami, she spots Lucas drifting away from her and she goes after him with a desperate ferocity.
The character is also the moral centre of the film. Faced with the dilemma of whether to climb a tree for safety or to answer someone’s cries for help, she makes the ethical, not self-preserving, decision.
But after they are rescued, she has to face up to the serious injuries she has sustained and Watts gives a scarily realistic performance of Maria at death’s door.
The accolades have been pouring in and she is up for Best Actress honours from several awards, including a Best Actress Oscar.
Ewan McGregor (Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, 2012) is reliably good as Henry as he searches for his wife and son. He seems to be handling things remarkably well until he breaks down during a phonecall to a family member.
To Bayona’s credit, the local people are not left out of the film. He even contrasts the kindness of the natives who have so little in the first place with the casual selfishness of some holidaying Westerners who do not even want to lend others their mobile phones.
The younger performers are also noteworthy, particularly Tom Holland, who had played the lead role in Billy Elliot: The Musical in London from Sept 2008 to May 2010.
Lucas is overwhelmed with fear and grief at first, and it was nice to watch him blossom when he finds that he can be useful at the hospital by helping to reunite separated family members.
The tsunamis were a terrible catastrophe and by crafting a movie about familial love and survival around it, Bayona leaves us with a sense of awe and respect at nature’s power – even as he holds out the comfort of hope.
(ST)