The Impossible does everything it can to let you know that it is based on a true story. After showing the obligatory sentence stating as much the rest of the sentence fades and the words “true story” remain on the screen for a few seconds longer. The first few scenes are just the typical shots to show this is a typical English family on a typical Christmas vacation going through the typical issues of work problems, children fighting, and overbooked hotel rooms. These scenes are necessary but boring typical and only used to establish that this family is typical (if typical looks like Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor). But the second that a blender’s power dissipates and the fruity concoction inside is no longer spinning the movie takes a turn away from the typical.
That power outage of course was the result of the impending tsunami that struck Thailand in 2004 is coming and takes about thirty seconds to hit the posh beachside resort where our typical English family (consisting of the aforementioned Watts and McGregor as the parents to three boys aged between 5 and 10) is staying. Once it hits, with effects so breathtaking it will make you forget about the only memorable part of Hereafter, we are shown Maria (Watts) clutching to a tree with rapidly moving water trying to pull her away. She hears and sees her oldest son Lucas (Tom Holland making a phenomenal acting debut) floating downstream quickly and lets go in order to save him. In the process we see her get stabbed in the ribs by a tree branch that will make you wince for her After quite the episode, the two are finally united and find their way to safety. The adrenaline dies and we see just how hurt Maria really is and that she is powering through simply to save her son. In a very emotional exchange while looking for shelter Lucas and Maria hear someone crying for help. Maria wants to look for the unidentified voice while Lucas, who was made queasy by seeing his mother’s leg wound is adamant about saving themselves. The exchange is the first of many highly charged scenes that are sure to pull at your heart strings as Maria tries to reason that she is only acting as she hopes someone else would for her other sons Simon and Thomas. Lucas meanwhile screams at her that they are dead and the top priority should be to get to safety since the next wave that comes is sure to kill them. Needless to say the mom always wins and they end up finding a young boy named Daniel who is very loving towards both Maria and Lucas. These three manage to find a tree to get some sleep and a floating soda can to help with their thirst. They are found by a local tribe who take care of the trio and end up taking Maria and Lucas to the hospital while caring for Daniel. The acts of courage and kindness that the locals show are the equivalent of American idealism and show that it isn’t just America that rises to the occasion in times of tragedy, but the human race as a whole. While Maria is lying in the hospital in and out of consciousness she tells Lucas to that he should help people, take care of them, as he has proven to be very good at that so far and she isn’t going anywhere. Another moving scene involves him going through the hospital taking down names of missing relatives from those who are searching and he goes through the many areas of the hospital calling out the names trying to reunite anyone he can. This is all before we even see Henry’s (McGregor) point of view from the whole storm. He is left at the resort looking for his missing family members and risking his life in the process. He explains his reasoning for the risks by telling one of the two sons that have survived with him at the resort that the scariest part of the storm was not the water hitting, but when he first came up and was completely alone. It was when he saw his two youngest clutching to a tree that he was able to be strong. During his search he is stuck with multiple difficult decisions that no person should ever have to make.
There is so much to this movie that should make it completely cliché, including the first act, but the powerful performances by the cast, some well done writing, and a clear vision from director Juan Antonio Bayona (who’s only other full length film was the underrated The Orphanage) are able to pull the film up into something emotional and special. The tears the audience members were audibly shedding were not due to the typical contrivances that so often plague these tear jerking true stories, but due to the raw performances put on screen. Reese Witherspoon sent an open letter thanking Watts for her incredible performance and while she wasn’t wrong, Watts is great and deserving of her impending Oscar nomination on Thursday, the true star was Holland as Lucas. As I was watching the movie it was impossible to not feel like this is Lucas’ story and everyone else is just the supporting cast in one of the defining moments of his life. Giving that much power to a child actor who has never been on film before was a bold risk, and one that clearly paid off. Without his powerhouse of a performance (coupled with Watts) this could have become the second coming of the previously mentioned and mocked Hereafter. With them, however, The Impossible has given it a new, much more respectable spot as one of the better disaster survival movies out there.
B
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