Sometimes we hear of films being based on a true story or actual events, but it is difficult to not view The Impossible and not remember the real tsunami that struck Southeast Asia on December 26, 2004. Those of us who recall that and the images we saw on TV know this was a real disaster, and Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona has brought to the screen a powerful, devastating, and truly life altering story of Maria Belon, a survivor of the disaster that struck her hotel in Khao Lak, Thailand.
A luminous Naomi Watts plays Maria Bennett, a doctor from the U.K. who is on winter vacation with her husband Henry (an excellent Ewan McGregor) and sons Lucas (Tom Holland), Thomas (Samuel Joslin), and Simon (Oaklee Pendergast). At first it seems like the most ideal vacation imaginable. They enjoy the tranquil waves, the lovely resort, and each other’s company. They open Christmas presents and then release illuminated balloons into the starry night sky, everything seemingly perfect as can be.
The next day they are all sitting around the pool. Maria is reading a book, and suddenly she notices birds flying away quickly as the wind picks up. A page is ripped from her book, and she gets up to get it. Her son Lucas runs to fetch an errant ball, while Henry and the other boys are in the pool. Palm trees start falling and then out of nowhere a huge wave changes life as they know it forever.
Maria and her eldest son Lucas are swept away in the water. Bayona focuses on this one story instead of trying to encompass the widespread destruction and devastation of so many people and families. In doing so Maria and Lucas’s story is a microcosm of the loss of so many. The adapted screenplay by Sergio G. Sanchez captures the despair of a wounded Maria and her son as they struggle to survive as another wave hits and all seems lost.
Watts (nominated for Best Actress) gives her best performance to date as a mother who clings to life in order to make certain her child survives. Her work here deserves the recognition because each moment of pain and agony is utterly believable and is the heart of the movie. I cannot say enough about young Holland, who plays Lucas. His bravery and determination to save his mother is the soul of the film. Together they make a pair of survivors we want to see overcome the overwhelming odds against them.
Article comments
1 - Anonymous
Did you really just compare hurricane sandy to the tsunami of 2004?
2 - dorcas guinabo
Excellent thumbs up-.thanks very good artist
director really i am amaze love to watch with
my kids. My kids relate the movie and thingking
what to do f they are the one as lucas did.
3 - Ian walker
This is a truly thought provoking movie and very hard to watch due to the incredible realism
4 - Anonymous
" because we can relate to having survived our own tsunami (Hurricane Sandy brought this kind of devastation here"
That is a ridiculous inaccurate statement and clearly with all the intense realism in the film,you barely scratched the surface on what real destruction the tsunami caused in 2004.