The Impossible is one of those movies most people should go see, even if they’re not a fan of stories of human triumph or in the mood to revisit what is pretty much (aside from the Haiti Earthquake in terms of sheer fatalities) the most tragic event in our lifetime. A true story of a family of five tourists being separated by the event and then surviving [ahem] impossible odds to reunite, the movie does a fine job of not getting too heavy handed and also does not shy away from the force and power behind the tsunami. The performances are all stellar with Naomi Watts getting the highest marks for a role that requires her to create emotion and depth while being subjected to some rather extreme body horror. Tom Holland does a fantastic job of carrying large chunks of the drama as the eldest son whose eyes we see much of the story unfold through and Ewan McGregor is his usual fantastic self.
Director J.A. Bayona instantly shows his versatility going from The Orphanage to this and his use of sound and a few very interesting stylistic choices keep the film from venturing into “movie of the week” territory. It’s not a resoundingly effective emotional smartbomb but it’s nowhere near as cheaply manipulative as films of this ilk tend to be. The effects are almost seamless and it shows just how far CGI has come in terms of nuance and effectiveness. The tsunami is easily more effective than anything to come out of a Roland Emmerich disaster sequence and coupled with the human story at the center of the movie the result is a worthy visit to the movie theater.
Why should I see this?
Well it’s not a happy story and the wounds are still raw for hundreds of thousands of people. But, in a world where we rewrite laws and attack media when a child unloads into his class and kills a handful of people it’s good to see how the rest of the world experiences hardship. Well over two hundred and fifty thousand people lost their lives and it’s certainly a perspective changer. And it’s well acted and beautifully shot and it shows a family whose story is frankly amazing. To survive that catastrophe that close to the sea is unbelievable and to hear stories from within that tragedy that actually restore faith in humanity is a nice change.
A note to cynics.
The family is white. This is not something to rail against no matter how thick your white guilt is. The family is white. It’s a true story and surely there are amazing stories of heroism and endurance for Thai, Indian, and many other nationalities and here’s hoping someone’s able to wrangle financing and talent to tell those stories. This is about a real family [nationality changed from Spanish though the film is a Spanish production] and there’s not an ounce of entitlement or snobbery at play.
A smart ass perspective.
Did I really need to see Naomi Watt’s tit ripped open?
Best scene.
Although the thrust of the film is not about the spectacle, Bayona delivers an amazing and much-needed burst of artistry and force late in the movie after things are nearly resolved. It showcases and further extends what happens to Watts’ character when the storm hits and it is lyrical, vicious, and Malick-esque all at once. Great stuff.
Rating: 
Out of a Possible 5 Stars
Nick On… Is my new ongoing movie review column. The goal is to distill things a little and make it a little more playful and easier to digest rather than the long form. Hope you like. Please let me know what you think as there will be many of these coming and the goal always is to improve. Please share and whatnot.
15 comments
dig the condensed review style and am keen to check this out, always willing to give Watts and McGregor my time
I like the breakdown, Nick. I wasn’t initially sure that it was a review but once all of the regulars get used to the title “Nick On….”, that won’t be a concern. I’m glad you addressed the situation with the family being white as it has been talked quite heavily in other places.
Wait, why did they change the nationality of the characters? I was with you up until that detail …
From Wiki: “Director Juan Antonio Bayona decided not to specify the nationalities of the main characters in order to create a universal film in which nationalities were irrelevant to the plot.”
Ah, so it wasn’t changed, just not specified. There’s a subtle, but important, difference there. I mean, if they switched them to American …
What accents are Ewan and Naomi using?
Good work, Nick. Direct yet playful. Look forward to more.
I like the column as a whole.
Comment on the actual review – I think you should add the word “natural” to “event” when calling it the “most tragic event in our lifetime,” unless you redefine lifetime to only the last thirty years. There are people living on this earth that remember and lived through events that killed millions of people. As horrible as the Tsunami really was, let’s keep things like this in perspective, please.
The Holocaust wasn’t event. It went on and on and on and so did things like Rwanda. Tsunami. 9/11. Shootings. One time events.
How about the bombing of Hiroshima? Not Nagasaki, though. Those guys were dicks.
Well before my time, but combined they still trail this disaster by a bit in terms of deaths. Not to compare. Obviously the bombings were malicious as are shootings and mass killings while this is natural events gone nutso. My thing is about perspective.
Interesting…the ‘other’ review I read makes this out to be exactly what you say it’s not – a tale of white folk’s adversity to catastrophy, with barely an indian or asian face to be seen, or at least heard, despite being a disaster primarily affecting those two continents.
They’re not using straight-up American accents, but I don’t know if they ever reveal where exactly they’re from. I’d naturally guess British, but I have a horrible ear for accents.
They mention living in Tokyo during the film and I think at one point a character mentions going back HOME to return as a doctor (home not being Tokyo, but somewhere else)
Anyways, that really doesn’t matter, as Nick points out above. The film does a great job at making you forget about the ethnicity of the characters and instead focus on everyone as people apart of the same race.
Loved your write up Nick. I like the diluted nature of it, because it’s quicker to read and it still packs the same punch as long-form reviews. Looking forward to more of these.
The film does focus more on white characters, because the family the film primarily focuses on is white. There are plenty of Asians/Indians/Africans and just about any other ethnic group you can think of present in the film. But that being said, Bayona shoots it focusing more on people as a whole and the disaster that they’re struggling through together.
Good review, Nick. Sounds a lot better than I expected (which was “movie of the week,” “cheaply manipulative,” etc.), I may actually give it a look now. I’m looking forward to more of these.
I think it is valid to make a film on the Indian Ocean tsunami from the viewpoint of a white foreigner, so long as it isn’t Raymond Burr mopping his brow and talking superlatives into a microphone. The number of dead from some of the European countries ranked higher than from any disaster they’ve suffered in modern history. The heaviest were Germany with 552 and Sweden with 571. The UK lost 142, while Finland 179. Altogether the foreign casualties in Thailand amounted to no less than 50% of their own. It was by a mercy of topgraphy that it wasn’t far higher. These were people caught far away from home by something beyond their comprehension. I met one woman who lost her boyfriend and carried hidden scars on her body. For Sweden, a country with a population of only 10 million the effect was devestating. It was the equivilent of the US losing over 17,000 of her citizens in the disaster.
A film obviously should be made from the perspective of the peoples of Indonesia, to remind us that their struggle to regain what they lost isn’t over yet. However, I don’t find this film to be exploitative. I only wish more people had known at the time of the warning signs of an oncoming tsunami – a sign that no mass release film prior to the event ever made explicit, alas.
Comments are shown as archived from the original site; new comments are closed.