by Tyler Andreala
The Impossible came to theaters stateside on Dec. 21, 2012. I had been waiting since its first teaser trailer to see this movie, and it was worth the wait. The Impossible was originally a Spanish disaster drama film, which was filmed in English and later released in the United States. The Impossible follows a family from Europe on vacation in Thailand. The family consists of Maria (Naomi Watts), her husband Henry (Ewan McGregor), and their three kids, Lucas, Thomas, and Simon. The movie has you watch the family and experience the torture they lived through on an early morning in 2004.
After a little bit of dialogue and back story, the family gathers by the pool one morning and feels a fierce shake followed by a deadly sized wave, and are swept away. The director Juan Antonio Bayona does a fantastic job of showing the pain getting hit by a tsunami causes. The camera then follows Maria, as she hits various objects while underwater and then is contorted and twisted around in an uncontrollable fury. It is clear how subject to the wave she is, and as you watch you can’t help but cringe as you see her helpless body being thrown about like a used napkin. With each major wound that you encounter while watching, you just think “ouch.” The injuries aren’t the only things that are deadly in this movie. The cinematography is just plain beautiful. The shots are perfect and clear as bodies are being thrashed around.
Besides giving you a front seat experience of being tossed around by a tsunami, this movie also makes the death and destruction that happens on this day very clear and blunt. With an abundance of dead bodies and destroyed buildings for miles around as the camera eventually goes up to give you a beautiful, but tragic view of the sky, The Impossible does a fantastic job of showing you what really went on that day. As the movie eventually brings you to one of the few hospitals on the island you realize how many people were affected by this. The hospital is overflowing with injured people and families that are split up, resulting in a very solemn atmosphere, and reminding you that this was a real event.
The Impossible does its job well by detailing the struggle one family goes through to survive and stay together. With great on screen performances by all the actors it was a powerful movie that will open your eyes to a tragic event that split families apart and made people live through the worst the world has to offer.
5/5