Based on a true story, The Impossible sees the Belon family arrive in Thailand two days before the Boxing Day Tsunami disaster in 2004; where their dream vacation of a Christmas abroad is destroyed when the waves hit their coastal resort and the group are separated. Mum Maria (Naomi Watts, King Kong) and eldest son Lucas (Tom Holland, The West End’s Billy Elliot: The Musical) end up in the waves and on a laborious journey to hospital, while dad Henry (Ewan McGregor, Salmon Fishing In The Yemen) and the rest of the family, stay at the resort. In the confusion and chaos, all are detached and must reunite before it’s too late for Maria.
Noticeably odd in the opening credits is Watts getting top billing but it soon becomes apparent that she is the main human focus of the film; she’s the one that everything bad happens to (with some gory injuries and pretty much being on her deathbed for the entire runtime); and she truly convinces us that she is always in mortal peril (with some rather good deathbed acting); as usually something like that can be deridden, but it’s a perfect storm of the scarily good make up, the location being spot on, and Watts stealing the scene by using breathless speaking to create a brilliantly sympathetic Maria.
McGregor is his usual likeable self, even though you get the impression he’s not given much to do. What he does though, he does superbly; the scene where he manages to get into contact with one of his family members back home and breaks down is truly heartbreaking; a top actor like McGregor can turn it on and off for a role when needs be, and his work in The Impossible is no different.
Holland as Lucas, on the other hand, is an annoying little shit who you cannot get behind at any point in the film whatsoever. After the waves have subsided, he and his mother find a tall tree which they decide to climb to avoid any follow up chaos. They hear something crying nearby but Lucas wants to get away and ignore the cries of help. Maria has to talk sense into him and give a speech about what if it was him to turn him around. That’s more of an attack on the character probably, but the thing is it still makes him look like a horrible human being; Holland is young, but he does not pull off this rapidly maturing young adult that the film wants you to believe in at all; some of his deliveries of lines are dodgy, and after being introduced like he is and then trying to avoid the person in distress, he was hard to watch in a positive mood as the leg work of the film is based on his actions.
At least the direction of The Impossible is superb. Director J.A. Bayona (The Orphanage) goes for the big drama route choosing quality over quantity of shots for emotional effect, and creating some genuinely decent pacing from a concept which could have easily become bogged down at times. You can tell that there was a lot of physical filmmaking gone into this production, and it’s actually hard to work out what’s CGI and what’s been done for real in places (even the tidal wave scenes are quite well done). You think there would be a temptation to skip out on the big disaster moments but no, they’re created rather well (albeit a bit localised).
In regards to capturing the feel directly after the Boxing Day Tsunami, and the destruction and immediate aftermath, The Impossible excels; the sets are horribly realistic, and the scenes where Maria and Lucas are walking through soaked, run-down grassland, passing bodies, debris, and wrecked cars, are stunning. The hospital parts are so realistic it’s shocking; where overstretched staff dealing with an inhumane disaster with next to no resources are common (although a few extra gory injuries would have added to the realism). And the entire mood of the film is one of stun; there’s this tragic aura that no one on screen can come to terms with what’s happened, and it makes both unsettling, and emotional, viewing.
There are a few shortcuts which probably aren’t from the real life story; typical western cinema garbage; like two family members missing each, as one goes down a flight of stairs whilst another goes through a door round the corner, is more than a bit patronising for the audience. You do feel sorry for the Belons after the disaster but you don’t really feel anything for them but aggregation as they moan about their life, with the retired doctor mother bringing up three boys and the father worried about getting a big payoff from being sacked by his mega-corp job. But you know what? It’s all done rather respectfully, and you’ve bonded to this family as this powerful, emotional, journey you’ve been on with them concludes…
Until the ending. We see an insurance company representative turn up, wave his magic wand and the family are whisked away by airplane from the horrible trauma to get cleaned-up and treated at a nice hospital in another country. It makes the entire journey we’ve just been on with this family redundant. They’re fine. There’s no lasting complications for the Belons and it comes across as a minor inconvenience to their package holiday, unintentionally turning them into unlikable people right at the end. That’s the problem of doing a feel good film which affects a limited number of people, when there’s still the unresolved destruction and aftermath of a disaster; it’s such a juxtaposition that it just lingers on your thoughts like a bad smell as the credits roll.
Needless to say, the end does tarnish The Impossible massively. It feels so awkward you want the credits to roll as soon as they can, as it spoils an otherwise terrific human story; seeing a better than normal family being dragged down to everyone else’s powerless level in the face of a natural disaster. The ultimate factor of appreciating this film is if you can get behind Holland as Lucas, then you’ve done well for yourself and get on well enough. If not, you’ll be stewing at him for the whole runtime. Awkwardly well done.
Terry Lewis – @thatterrylewis.
