The Impossible
THE IMPOSSIBLE (LO IMPOSIBLE) (12)
D: Juan Antonio Boyona
Warner Bros./Summit/Apaches (Álvaro Augustin, Belen Atienza
& Enrique Lopez Lavigne)
Spain/US 2012
113 mins
Drama
W: Sergio G. Sanchez
DP: Oscar Faura
Ed: Elena Ruiz & Bernat Vilaplana
Mus: Fernando Velázquez
Naomi Watts (Maria Bennett), Ewan McGregor
(Henry Bennett), Tom Holland (Lucas Bennett), Oaklee Pendergast (Simon Bennett), Geraldine Chaplin (The Old Woman)
The Impossible follows the quite remarkable true story of a
family torn apart and their determination to find one another again following the aftermath of the tsunami on Boxing Day 2004 in South East Asia.
Visually arresting and emotionally dramatic, Naomi Watts and
Tom Holland deliver brilliant performances as the mother & son fighting against Mother Nature to be reunited with the rest of their family (McGregor & Pendergast).
The tsunami scene is one of tremendous awe, ripping through
the holiday resort and bringing death to thousands, but the film loses some of this impact by solely focusing on one particular family rather than the event as a whole. It remains a haunting
watch, but loses a little of its emotional power due to it's low-key approach. The direction falls a bit flat around two-thirds of the way through, when it becomes less of a survival tale and
more a docudrama about the healthcare struggle to help the casualties and victims. Despite this, it's an excellent recreation of daunting real-life events.
8/10
